Essay/Term paper: Abortion

Essay, term paper, research paper:  College Papers

Abortion on demand should be legal for many reasons. In countries where
abortion is absolutely not tolerated it is a fact that women continue to
receive abortions, from unqualified back-street abortionists or the
village massage abortionist. Both of these individuals risk putting the
woman through painful and potentially fatal tortures just in an attempt
to abort a child. Each year 84 000 women die worldwide from failed
abortion attempts. Because of anti-abortion legislation women avoid
going to the hospital, often until it is too late, to avoid prosecution
from police. In the cases of rape and incest the very idea of being
forced to have the child of the woman's abuser is repulsive. There are
also cases when a woman's health is put in jeopardy by having a child at
all, forcing such a woman to bring a child to term, would be no less
than attempted murder. If a woman is forced to give birth to a child she
does not want, if left in that woman's custody, the child could
potentially face hatred and resentment from the mother for the rest of
it's life. In countries all over the world, children are found dead and
abandoned in places as degrading as garbage dumps. The only effective
method of preventing unwanted births is abstinence, and this is just not
a realistic objective. There is no 100% effective form of birth control,
and even men and women using birth control have unwanted pregnancies.
Some women for financial, occupational, social, and maturity reasons,
see pregnancy as cessation of their lives. There are no accurate
statistics on how many women attempt or succeed in committing suicide
each year rather than live with their pregnancies. Women will continue
to have abortions with or without government legislation, but with
legislation, the conditions under which they have their abortions can be
sanctioned and observed.
The role of family in abortion is that preservation of family has a
profound impact on some women's decision whether or not to have an
abortion. Some women have learned to protect and preserve each and every
member of her family, including an unborn child. For these women
abortion is not even a consideration, but many do live their lives
harboring resent towards their husbands and the child for forcing her to
have a child she did not necessarily want. Other women see abortion as a
necessity to protect the family they already have. For financial reasons
especially some women believe that abortion at this time in life is not
an option, and to protect the stability of their families have
abortions. The role that school has on the issue of abortion is that
presently schools teach students how to best protect themselves against
pregnancy. Many schools provide condoms to students, and attempt to
instill a sense of responsibility in both female and male students. The
role that the church plays on the issue of abortion is especially
important to society. For hundreds of years, whatever the church's
position on abortion, the entire world adopted. For centuries the church
has accepted abortion for a few hundred years and then condemned
abortion for a few hundred years, but in either case society has
embraced the church's thinking. For many both religious and
non-religious women, the church's opinion of abortion is highly revered
and obeyed. The Catholic Church denounces both birth control and
abortion so women are getting pregnant and are being forced to raise
enormous families, straining the family, especially financially. The
government's role in the issue of abortion, is the legislator of all
laws pertaining to abortion. The Canadian government, which is more
lenient towards the issue of abortion than other countries, provides
abortion to women, on the grounds of either mental or physical damage
that would be caused by the birth of a child. The government also bans
most abortions after the first trimester because after this date, there
is significantly more risk to the health of the woman. The medical
profession provides legal abortions to women, and it is medical
professionals who make up the panel of doctors who decide if a woman may
have an abortion. These members examine what level of trauma the woman
would suffer by having a child, and decide whether or not to grant an
abortion to a woman.