Essay on Abortion
Every year, about one million female teenagers get pregnant. Over 40 percent of those pregnancies result in having an abortion. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, 3 out of 4 girls who choose to have an abortion say that they don’t have enough money to support a baby, and 2 out of 3 say that they are not emotionally ready.
So what really is an abortion? An abortion ends a pregnancy before it takes place, and there are many different forms of it. One is called a spontaneous abortion. This is when an embryo or fetus dies in the uterus and is expelled by the body. Spontaneous abortions are also called miscarriages after 20 weeks of pregnancy. An induced abortion is when a woman chooses to end her own pregnancy. One form of an induced abortion is a medical abortion, which is when women make the decision to use a combination of drugs to end their pregnancies. It is usually called a very early abortion because a medical abortion is usually used up to 49 days after the first day of the last menstrual period. In a few cases, medical abortions have failed; surgical pregnancies are then required to end the pregnancy. One type of medical abortion is the Mifepristone-Misoprostol Method. This is when a woman swallows a dose of mifepristone. Then in a few days, she takes a second medication of misoprostol. Four hours after taking the second dose, the pregnancy usually ends.
Another form of abortion is surgical abortion; these can be done with the suction of a syringe, and are nearly 100 percent effective. Suction Curettage is a surgical method that only takes about 10 minutes. To begin with the procedure, the vagina is washed with an antiseptic. The opening of the cervix is slowly stretched out, while doing so, a series of increasingly thick rods are put into the opening. The rods (or dilators) absorb fluids from the cervical area and open cervix. After the opening has been stretched, a tube connected to a suction machine, is placed unto the uterus. The suction machine then carefully empties the uterus.
In 1973, the Supreme Court made it legal for the first time to have an abortion. Women were then allowed to decide if they wanted to keep their baby, or to terminate them. From 1880 to 1973, women had been having illegal and unsafe abortions, which often caused permanent damage to their reproductive organs, or even death. Currently, 30 states in the U.S. require parental guidance when a minor wishes to have an abortion.
Abortion is safe physically, but is it actually safe emotionally? 97 percent of women report to having no complications, and 2.5 percent have small complications that are handled by a doctor. Abortion is relatively safe, but as pregnancy increases, some risks can occur. It is good to get an abortion as early as possible. Most of 89 percent of abortions performed in the United States are done in the first three months of the pregnancy. Less than 1 percent of abortions are performed after 21 weeks.
However, how can a person really be emotionally stable after having gone through an abortion? Knowing the fact that you have just killed off an unborn child must cause at least a little distress. I don’t know how a woman can live with herself knowing what she has just done; having an abortion is not just something you can place in the back of your mind. It’s a fact that a woman will have to live with for the rest of her life.
My personal opinion of abortions is that in most cases, they shouldn’t be done. If two people are to take on the responsibility of having sex, then they should be able to accept the fact that the woman could possibly get pregnant. If they are not planning on having children, then they should use an effective form of birth control. If the couple does end up having a baby, and they know that they are not ready to have one, the best decision would be to give the child up for adoption to a willing family. Although, in some cases, I believe abortion would be an option. This kind of case would be if a young girl or woman were rapped by a male and became pregnant. In this situation, it is not the girl’s choice to have sex, and if she was to have a baby, an abortion could be done.
There are many forms of abortions used in order to prevent pregnancies. Some only require medicine, while others practically suck the fetus out of the woman. It is a highly controversial topic in which both sides will never agree upon. The only way that can settle this problem is the decision of having sex. The best way is to stay abstinent, while others carry the urge to be with their partner intimately. If a teen chooses to have sex, they should make sure that they always have a form of birth control on them to prevent later issues of having an abortion
