Abortion in the United States Essay
Abortion in the United States Essay Abortion can be defined as a deliberate termination of pregnancy after successful conception. This enables a mother who has already conceived to remove the unwanted pregnancy by killing and removing the underdeveloped fetus or embryo from the uterus. This becomes one of the most controversial subjects covered by the American politics. Within America, there is a variety of people, those who support abortion and those who are completely against it. Those people who support abortion rights contend that fetus or embryo has not become a person, and it will continue taking place until when the government can prove that the fetus or an embryo is already a person. The abortion rights’ opponents contend that a fetus or an embryo has already become a person, and they insist that the government is supposed to ban abortion until when it can prove that the fetus or an embryo in not a person. However, most of the opponents base their arguments in religious terms by saying that there is nowhere in the Bible abortion is mentioned (Nations, 2002).
In the United States of America, abortion has been legalized for women provided it is done within the pregnancy’s first and second trimesters as Roe v. Wade’s decision nullified the previous restriction about abortion on January 22 in the year 1973. Previously, before the year 1973 when the restriction was made, abortion was supported in many areas within the country. After the decision by Roe v. Wade, abortion was uniformly made legal all over the country provided it was not done in the third trimester. The United States Supreme Courts observed that the rights to privacy ensured that a woman was free to abort provided the state had no compelling interest towards forbidding the abortion. The Court also observed that, even if the state was interested in protecting the life of fetus, the interest did not qualify compelling until the viability of the fetus occurred within the pregnancy’s third trimester (Lee, 2003).
Pregnancies bring about many consequences over women’s family and emotional situation such that the decisions by the Court on health provision find the practical effect concerning legalizing abortion until the time when the baby is born. Before the time of giving birth, a woman can let her physician convinced that she demands abortion so that her emotional health can be preserved. Most women feel relieved after they have done abortion, therefore avoiding suffering enduring negative emotional consequences of any sort. The negative emotions arise due to a number of ways, for instance when the birth control efforts have failed; when one foresees her inability to bring up the baby that she will give birth to; and emotions due to pregnancies resulting from incest or rape. Some women take the option of abortion because of physical conditions that are seen to risk her healthy and life if pregnancy is allowed to continue. Sometimes the medical practitioners detects that the fetus has got birth defects or will have terrible medical problems, this makes the mother decide on doing the abortion (Nations, 2002).
Irrespective of some reasons to why abortion should be legalized, there are also many reasons to why the opponents to the rights of abortion exist. According to the opponents of abortion rights, abortion is an evil doing that is totally against human dignity since it’s a crime committed against life. There is no woman who has a right to eliminate the precious new life. Many countries have already banned abortion and most of institutions are fighting against this evil doing. Abortion is not a moral doing and it should be banned and fought against.
Abortion is seen as a threat to the health of a pregnant mother. In due course of abortion a woman can experience internal bleeding or acquire some kind of infection. Abortion can bring about sterility or lack of ability to give birth for the involved women since during the process of abortion the uterus can be injured and therefore unfavorable to support a developing fetus. Even if abortion is meant to kill the fetus, there is a possibility of the mother dying together with the fetus and this becomes a big threat even to those who are supporting the rights for abortion. In spite of the use of local anesthetics, most of the women who have undergone abortion report terrible pain such that if more powerful anesthetics are used, the woman can experience dangerous consequences. After an abortion, many complications come about for example the reproductive organs may become inflamed and it has been found through research that abortion brings about the risk of breast cancer. The chances of getting breast cancer increase by 50 percent (Lee, 2003).
Of the methods used during abortion, none of them is perfectly safe. Suction Aspiration is one of the commonly used methods and in this case the doctor employs the use of a unique tool to suck the fetus into a collection container. If maximum care is not taken during the use of this method, the uterus can be damaged leading into hemorrhage. A hemorrhage woman must need a blood transfusion for her blood level to be toped up and this can easily expose her to acquiring deadly diseases like AIDS. Sometimes the fetal tissue is left in the uterus and this will result into a very serious infection of the uterus (Lee, 2003).
Abortion is against the will of God since there is nowhere in the Bible that this evil act is mentioned. Children were seen as a heritage or gift from God, and in the scriptures, the Jews agreed that our Heavenly Master opens and closes the uterus and is supreme over conception. In the Bible is seen that childless life is a curse and therefore when abortion has taken place the fetus is killed leading to childless life.
Therefore I strongly belief that abortion should be banned altogether since the negative effects outweigh the reasons to why some people support abortion. Abortion is never good either to the life of the mother. Most women can engage in immoral activities like prostitution when they know that abortion is legalized. This is because the unwanted pregnancies can be terminated and they will have no burden of bringing up children. Finally, our Creator should always be pleased.
