Monday, December 5, 2011

Paper on Abortion

Abortion can be a very “touchy” subject with many people having a deep emotional attachment towards it. It is a subject that some people are strongly for and some people even more strongly against. There are mainly two different views on abortion you have some people who believe in the right to life for the unborn child while in the womb and after the child is born (pro life).  Other people believe that the mother has a choice on what she wants to do with her child and her body (pro choice). I am not writing this paper to take a side about abortion or even writing it to voice my opinion on rather the arguments on either side are right or wrong. I simply just want to say the facts about abortion such as the two different kinds of abortion. I also want to talk about the physical or emotional aspect of abortion that many women and also men might go through after an abortion.
    There are many different reasons why a woman might chose to get an abortion. The baby could have not been be healthy inside of the mothers’ womb and then the mother chooses not to have the child to live their life like that. Another reason is that it is an unwanted pregnancy and either the mother does not want to have the child, or maybe she thinks that she is not of appropriate age to have a child. Some women have an abortion because they have been raped and do not want to keep the child because of the pain already associated with that. Whatever the circumstances for a woman getting a child aborted it is still a fact that over one million babies were aborted last year.
    In the United States, there are two different kinds of abortions. The first kind of abortion is called an in-clinic abortion. An in-clinic abortion is understood in the name, the woman goes into a clinic to get an abortion. The cost of an in-clinic abortion usually ranges from about $300-$900 depending on where the abortion is performed, and if there are any other tests or other procedures done during the abortion. In-clinic abortions are very effective, and they are also fairly safe. With any medical procedure, there is always a risk of something going wrong, and for an abortion there is no difference. Even though there are risks to an in-clinic abortion, statistically speaking an abortion is eleven times safer during the first twenty weeks then child bearing. For the remainder of the pregnancy, the risks are about equal.
    The next type of abortion is called the abortion pill. The abortion pill is medicine taken to abort the fetus within the first sixty-three days or nine weeks of a pregnancy. There are many reasons why a woman might chose to do the abortion pill over the in-clinical abortion.  A woman might choose to do the abortion pill because it can be done in private.  Other women feel like it is more natural like having a miscarriage and it can be done early in the pregnancy. The abortion pill will range in price from about $300-$800 dollars. The abortion pill is safe, but just like any other type of medicine you have risk. Any heavy bleeding or infection after taking the abortion pill should result in consulting a doctor.
    Abortions can be a very emotional experience for women as well as for men. It is said that 20% of women who have an abortion suffer from a mild case of depression, but then it slowly passes away and they are not depressed anymore. It should also be noted that 10% of women who have an abortion do suffer from a much larger form of depression and they have to seek post-abortion counseling. This is usually because of an unwanted child rather than the killing of a child. One study found that the biggest reason for depression after an abortion is the negative effect that abortion has in society and that the women have to deal with that. Even though many women suffer from depression due to an abortion, there are also many women who feel more of a relief because of the abortion. Serious long-term depression occurs in not as many women as one might guess. Even though one might be surprised at the relatively small number of women who go through a depression stage after an abortion, one might be more surprised about the effect of the abortion on men.  Men are often neglected in the research and understanding when it comes to their child being aborted. I know this from a personal stand point in that one of my really good friends fathered a child during high school.  Before he could say anything about it or have a discussion about the options, the woman had an abortion. I remember the day that he told me about all of this and I could see the pain in his eyes from what had happened. So I do know from personal experience that an abortion not only can hurt the woman, but it can also emotionally hurt the man.
    There are many risk involved not only emotionally in having an abortion, but there are also physical risks. Because an abortion is a medical procedure, there are typical risks that are always involved in having almost all medical procedures. It does not matter if it is an in-clinical procedure, or if it is the abortion pill there is always a risk. One of the physical risks of having an abortion is the abortion could of not been completed all the way and you would have to have a surgery to finish the abortion. Other physical risk of abortion can include infection, heavy bleeding and damage to the uterus. Even though there is a risk of damage to the uterus medical abortion has not been shown to affect future pregnancies. Abortions are relatively safe procedures the site plannedparenthood.com compares an abortion to child birth and says that an abortion is all around more safe than birthing a child.
    Is abortion right, or is abortion wrong is a subject that will be discussed for as long as their are woman who get pregnant. Even though abortion is still a real life issue that everyone must consider being that you think abortion is right, you think abortion is wrong or quite frankly you really could care less about the entire issue. If you are planning to have an abortion I hope that this blog is helpful in just knowing the ends and outs of abortion. The websites that I have posted on my blog should also be a great resources that you should look at if you want more and even more in depth about the issues that I have discussed on this paper and in this blog.





Sunday, December 4, 2011

Websites for More Information

Here I listed a few different websites that I found helpful in finding out information about abortion
Planned Parenthood
Mayo Clinic I found this site very helpful. I would just type in abortion into the search engine on the site and it would pop up many different articles about the medical aspect of abortion.
Pro Choice This is a website about being for abortion.
Pro Life This is a website about being pro choice the right to life

Facts about Abortion

What is the average age of someone who gets an abortion? How much money does Planned Parenthood make? What is the percent of of people who get an abortion under the poverty line? Those questions and so many more can be answered on this Planned Parenthood fact sheet.

Abortion Pill

The abortion pill is used for women who are nine weeks pregnant or less if a woman is more than nine weeks pregnant then she will have to have an in-clinic abortion. The abortion pill is 97% effective, and it is safe for woman. Even though the abortion pill is safe their are always risk involved during any medical procedure. Some of those risk might include
  • an allergic reaction to either of the pills
  • incomplete abortion— part of the pregnancy is left inside the uterus
  • infection
  • undetected ectopic pregnancy
  • very heavy bleeding 
The abortion pill can be obtained at a local planned Parenthood center, and it usually ranges from about $300-$800 depending on where you are and any other procedure taht/test that you may have to get while getting the pill.

In-clinic abortion

There are two kinds of abortions in the United States. You can have an in-clinic abortion or you can take the abortion pill. In this blog post I am going to focus on the in-clinic abortion. An in-clinic abortion usually ranges from $300-$950 during the first trimester. Along with any other medical procedure their is a risk of something going wrong, and with an abortion the longer that you are pregnant the more dangerous the procedure is. Some of the risk in an abortion might include
  • an allergic reaction
  • blood clots in the uterus
  • incomplete abortion — part of the pregnancy is left inside the uterus
  • infection
  • injury to the cervix or other organs
  • undetected ectopic pregnacy
  • very heavy bleeding
Even though there is a risk of even death during an abortion you can look at it this way that their is an eleven time better chance of death to occur during a child birth than for you to die during an abortion.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Psychological effects of Abortion

Women can have abortions for many different reasons. They baby might be sick and the mother thinks that it would just be better if the baby was to be aborted. The pregnancy might be unplanned or unwanted and the mother thinks that the best decision would just be for the baby to be aborted. In a lot of cases though in a lot of women their are psychological effects to having an abortion. Their have been states that have issued laws about a woman having to go through pre-abortion councling, and also that their has to be a 24-hour waiting period before the woman can have to abortion. Psychologist Dr. Vincent Rue - a psychotherapist for 30 plus years, who served on the faculty at California State University at Los Angeles and San Diego International University. He noted: "Despite the fact that - less than a month ago - the American Psychological Association (APA) has pronounced that abortion is psychologically safe for women, we are in the midst of a conference in which men are recounting their grief over abortion." That statement is saying that even though we think that only woman can suffer from an abortion on the emotional side, but men can also suffer from an abortion.  The Healing Choice postabortion counseling service they estimate that at least 10% of all woman who have an abortion need counseling afterward.