Abortion a problem for teenage girls The purpose of this essay is to bring awareness to the medical procedure of abortion, which is a very dangerous procedure that needs to be solved. The target audience is those teenage girls that are deciding to abort using irrelevant procedures. This problem is an increasing trend that is affecting younger and younger girls as time passes due to poor sex education involvement in schools, and family discussions. Sometimes girls have rational reasons of why they decide to abort, like when they have serious diseases, when their economic situation is not the best, or when they were victims of sexual abuse.
Thus, there have been many cases in which girls just decide to abort for no reason at all without knowing that there are other options to consider before taking the final decision. Hence, there are three solutions for girls that are undecided on what decision to make; the first one is to seek help at a women center. The second one is to tell a parent, or family member that is trustable enough. The third solution is to go to seminars for counseling and request information.
Accordingly, the most plausible solution out of the three is to go to seminars for counseling because these programs have experts that can solve the problem. Moreover, one of the reasons to abortion is because sometimes it’s a natural instinct or way girls react when they find out they are pregnant. Another main problem is that many teenage girls that are pregnant decide to abort using illegal procedures because they feel like that’s the only solution to their situation. Then, they end up risking their lives just because they did not consider the different resources that are offered to them.
According to Beckwith, F (2007), state that “moral rules are merely personal preferences and/or the result of one’s cultural, sexual, or ethnic orientation. So choosing an abortion, like choosing a car, a vacation, spot, or dessert is merely a matter of preference. ” The author Beckwith specifies that girls should have the preference on what to do over their bodies because it’s something personal. On the contrary, this opinion is half right because there are many girls out there getting abortions with people that have insufficient practice, and they end up killing themselves.
Instead, they should consider talking to someone about the problem, or they should go to a medical center to get an abortion the right way. Teenagers should understand that there are more reasonable resources out there that are available to them and should be considered. To begin with, the first solution to help orient pregnant girls into making the right decision is to seek help at a women center. This solution is good, but not the best because many girls are too shy to go to these centers and talk with a stranger about their problems.
Sometimes girls can be suffering from a threat of their sexual violator. A scenario of this can be when the violator is a student in the same school the victim attends, and he keeps threatening the girl of killing her if she tells on him. By doing so, the girl is going to feel scared to tell anybody, so she will have no option but to secretly abort in order for no one to find out. Though, a way to strike back is by having private conversations or classes with girls to let them know that there’s always other choices they can make, it all depends on their courage to trust people.
For this reason this solution is still relevant because there are many campaigns designed to help pregnant women economically or emotionally. These campaigns use statistics in order to prove the effects when taking the risk of doing abortions behind the scene. By using real statistics and examples of the effects of abortions, some girls can relate to them, and might help them understand more about the situation and the consequences if they take the wrong decision.
In addition, recently high school girls are becoming more likely to become pregnant at early ages because they are sexually active. In order to help this problem in schools, the cps authorities provided counseling and other resources to help pregnant teenagers make the right decision. Accordingly, Olukoya & Kaya (2000), state that different “approaches to adolescent abortion should involve all levels of the health care system, as well as the community. It should include not only management of the consequences of unsafe abortion, but also post-abortion contraception and counseling. In addition, this statement strongly supports the idea of helping teenagers to thinking about what’s best for them and people in their surroundings based on their decision. Also, it conveys the idea that there are many resources out there for girls that feel scared of taking a decision, like counseling at schools. Moreover, in accordance with Cumberland, S. (2010), affirms that “the research note that progress in curbing the pregnancy rate began to stall at the same time that sex education programs began to focus on teaching abstinence as the only means of birth control and that teenager’s use of ontraceptives began to decline. ” This illustrates the results of having good resources available for youngsters that are pregnant, and it tells one of the effective ways to prevent unwanted abortions. Also, the source from Cumberland, S. has a good approach towards the solution to the problem because schools should be the main place to have a good impact about the risks of abortion and how considering opinions can save a girl’s life.
The article from Olukoya & Kaya articulates the idea of Cumberland because girl’s surroundings affect their decisions based on their morals and background. Also, the articles from Olukoya & Kaya, relate to the one from Cumberland because they state that girls should have private advising at schools in order to orient them towards the right track. Even though, Cumberland goes more into detail about what’s one of the ways to solve the problem, like implementing sex based classes in schools, the article also heads the same approach to promote counseling to pregnant girls.
Cumberland, as well as Olukoya & Kaya approach the problem of abortion based on education programs available, how these programs might help parents understand the situation of their daughters, and how they can help them make the right decision. Also, the second solution to undecided abortions is to telling relative girls trust in order to receive emotional or economic assistance. This solution is really good when the communication within the family is good, but it’s not the best solution to the problem.
The reason for this is because sometimes family members can have emotional conflicts, and they might not take the idea of pregnancy positively. This can affect the girl’s decision because their feelings are dependent on their background; they can feel shyness, fear, or anger towards the idea of pregnancy. Additionally, girls can end up killing the baby and themselves because they were not aware of the correct precautions to take when aborting. On the other hand, sometimes telling a relative can bring many positive effects on the decision because her family might support her decision economically and emotionally.
Based on Norton & Jan (2011), state that an ideal decision should have “cultural values, such as greater emphasis on family, greater acceptance of early childbearing and expectations of female submissiveness to men, together with the impact of discrimination or racism, may also contribute to the effects of ethnicity on teenage pregnancy. ” The article from Norton & Jan imply the idea of how families impact the decision of adolescents because they teach them the morals of what’s right and what’s wrong.
If the family accepts the idea of the girl being pregnant, they can help the girl solve the problem. Also, the article from Norton & Jan tell the different main causes of how girl’s decisions are made based on morals, races, and ethnic backgrounds. Additionally, as reported by Christensen & Rossen (1996), they emphasize that, “to break the cycle of sexual abuse which often leads to teenage pregnancy, intensive family support programs, such as Healthy Families, are needed to teach fathers about parenting and help them connect with their children from birth. This is relevant because there have been many cases of sexual abuse to girls resulting in pregnancy lately and one of the reasons for this is because there is no connection between the girl and her family. Also, this is a good solution towards the main problem because there are programs out there that help families connect, and eventually the family will help the girl make the best decision towards aborting or not. As stated by the Solo Syndication (2010), “Experts say it is the aspirations of well-off families that lead to a higher abortion rate, as girls opt not to miss out on their education. The article from Solo Syndication restates the idea that sometimes parents correlate the idea of abortion based on their ethnic morals. Different ethnicities have different aspects towards abortion because sometimes the prevention of abortion is a tradition in the family. Another reason is that sometimes education plays a big role within the family and the parents pressure their children to continue with education and to prevent anything that stops them from continuing. For this reason they make big decisions for them instead, like making girls to abort against their will.
Equally important, the article from Solo Syndication is similar to the article from Christensen & Rossen because the talk about the acceptance between family members and the pregnant girl. They discuss the importance of how family members help with the decision of aborting. Like when the girl has been a victim of sexual abuse and she doesn’t want her parents to know because they won’t accept her decision of aborting. The articles emphasize that there are resources to help them connect with their family to trust and help each other.
On the contrary, the article from Solo Syndication contradicts the other two articles from Christensen & Rossen, and Norton & Jan because it states how sometimes telling a parent might not be the right decision. Parents take decisions based on their ethnic background sometimes because they were thought different morals. For instance, parents mostly want the best for their children and they support their education, while they are totally against pregnancy at early age.
Other parents approach the same problem differently, while they support pregnancy over anything because their morals are that we all deserve the chance to live. The three sources from Norton & Jan, Christensen & Rossen, and Solo Syndication are part of one of the solutions because teenage abortions are so risky, that they can result in death, so girls should seek for help first. Even though telling a relative is not a very good idea sometimes, it can still help girls become more confident because they need the guts to tell their parents that they are pregnant and that they are planning to abort.
On the contrary, some critics like, doctors, parents, or men may disagree with the open to decision option for young girls because they believe that abortion is very risky and the girl’s life could be at risk. Others may argue that juvenile girls should abort because they are not ready for that kind of responsibility. On top of that, not only health and responsibility take place in this situation, but morals and economic situation play a big role in the final decision.
This problem is because girls that are 15 to 16 years old get pregnant and they are not old enough to support a baby economically. It is understandable why parents and men disagree with my argument of seeking for assistance before acting because sometimes certain problems take place, like sexual abuse, economic situation, and emotional problems. For instance, some teenagers are taught by their parents that abortion is a good thing, and they are too young to take a big responsibility like taking care of a baby, so why not getting rid of the fetus while it’s still in development.
Others are taught that abortion is bad, and even though the mistake was done, the baby deserves to live too. Money also plays a big role when taking the decision because sometimes teenagers are too young to work and support the baby economically, so why bringing a baby to a miserable life? Other cases like sexual abuse should give the girl the decision to do whatever it’s best for them because the emotional part takes place in the final choice. Accordingly, in line with
Feldt, G (2004) specifies that “the common thread running through all of this welfare legislation is denial of women’s most basic human right: The right to privacy to economic equality, and to control over what happens with their own bodies. ” This statement implements the idea that girls, as human beings, should have the right to make their own private decision on what to do with their bodies. This source from Feldt G. connects with the idea that girls should be able to make their own decision because they are the only ones that can decide what they want for their future.
However, my solutions are more logical because many girls regret their decision after killing their baby and end up in a depression status. For instance, if the girl makes the wrong decision they can end up with a psychological problem, and they might lose interest to the outside world. Even though, those were reasonable opinions, girls should have the chance to look for different options to approach the decision to abort, and there are many resources at schools, medical centers etc, to help them decide.
Then, if the best solution is taken into consideration it can help lower the rate of irresponsible abortions. To finalize, the last and most important solution to the problem with teenage girls that are undecided to abort is going to seminars for counseling. Counseling is offered at schools for many purposes, and their main principle is to try to diminish the number of unauthorized teenage abortions. By doing so, there will be less risks for girls to get serious complications like having premature babies, killing the baby, or even death.
Seminars and counseling are organizations in which the experts give their best opinion to try to solve the problem. This is by far the best solution because teenage abortions are a big problem around the world and the best way to approach this issue is by striking schools first using people with sufficient knowledge about the problem. Then this will have a positive impact in most of the girls, which will help reduce the number of pregnancies at early age. This solution is parallel to the first solution of seeking help at a women center because they both approach the problem a similar way.
It is also similar to the second solution of telling a parent because when going to seminars for counseling it boosts up self confidence, and this can help the girl to approach the best way to tell her parents. To clarify, this solution of going to seminars emphasize the best way to approach the problem because the other two solutions try to strike the problem using different approaches that are not as good. Reason being is because if the girl takes one of those two irrelevant solutions into consideration, like telling a parent or going to a women center, she can be at risk that they might not work and make the situation worse.
For instance, if the girl goes to a women center and they tell the girl to explain everything to the parents; her parents might end up kicking the girl out of the house because they find her situation unethical. This is one of the reasons why many girls don’t seek for help because they are shy, scared, or ashamed of their situation. The authors Adedeji ; Aderibigbe (2011), state that “youth programmers should be designed to provide adolescents with adequate knowledge on reproductive and sexual issues including pregnancy prevention.
Thus, this issue should be taught at school in order to inform young teenagers about the consequences and the effects of abortion. ” This is a very strong statement because everybody deserves to have the adequate information about abortion, its effects, and the best way is to target teenagers at young age. In agreement with Dexter, K (2004), “in the two decades before abortion was legal in the U. S. nearly one million women went underground each year for illegal operations. Thousands died for lack of medical care. This is a very strong statement because it tells the desperation of women that wanted to abort even if it’s against the laws. It relates to the topic because it sets off the idea that pregnant girls do need assistance towards making a decision because many are dying due to the decision of aborting they made. Pursuant to Jones, R & Koaistra, K (2011), “the number and rate of abortions are in part dependent on the accessibility abortion services, which may be affected by the number of providers, gestational limits, costs and antiabortion harassment. This argument states that many factors, which the number of abortions are based on. Though, counseling will give access to all these resources, like providing contraceptives, money, and emotional assistance. The article from Adedeji ; Aderibigbe, and Jones ; Koaistra are similar to each other because they highlight the idea that schools should be the main target to help pregnant teenagers understand the positive and negative effects of aborting. Adedeji ; Aderibigbe, and Jones ; Koaistra also talk about why and how to help some girls, like when they choose to abort because they don’t have access to money or other ecessities. Though these two sources differ from the article of Dexter, K because Dexter use statistics and facts to clarify that even when abortion was illegal they were still doing it because they didn’t feel comfortable with their bodies. Though, Dexter, Adedeji ; Aderibigbe, and Jones ; Koaistra connect to the main point overall because they explain why it is important to consider other people’s opinions and some factors of what can happen if the girls doesn’t want opinions from others.
Lastly, the best solution expresses the idea that there should be a specific class that teaches adolescents the effects of pregnancy at young age, and this way pregnancy can be reduced. To conclude, the three solutions to prevent inappropriate abortions are seeking help at a women’s center telling a relative, and going to seminars to request counseling. Thus, the most plausible way to prevent many abortions from many young women is by going to seminars to request counseling. This is one of the most controversial problems around the world because there are several factors from which women feel forced to abort.
One of the consequences that may occur if the problem is not solved is that the rate of teenage pregnancies will keep increasing up to very high levels. Another consequence is that it the problem is not stopped, there could be many complications with girls later on and new diseases can come up with this. For instance, girls can become infertile at early ages and the number of the population can decrease to levels of extinction. Though, there are many other strong factors of why they shouldn’t consider aborting because it’s like killing another human being.
Before considering aborting, girls should look for help in order to find the best solution to the problem and stop from committing an error. If girls don’t follow any of the solutions provided, this will increase the number of abortions at young age around the world. If the best solution of going to seminars for counseling is not followed, many negative actions will take place, like low self-esteem, psychological problems, and physical problems. Thus, some of the effects an abortion can bring are complications that could lead to serious problems, or even death.
Finally, hopefully the three solutions provided might help assist some girls to change their opinions about pregnancy and about making the best decision for them and other people that could be affected by it. Teenagers should have the right to decide what to do over their bodies depending on their purpose because sometimes they decide to abort for no specific reason. It is always recommended to go through a medical procedure and prevent using other types of procedures because they can be very risky. References Adedeji, Aderibigbe, (January, 2011).
Teenage pregnancy and prevalence of abortion among In-school adolescents in north central, Nigeria. Asian social science. retrieved 03/20/2011 from http://web. ebscohost. com. proxy. devry. edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? hid=112;sid=35865f76-ffbc-4034-9031-1a931b13278a%40sessionmgr104;vid=8 Beckwith, F (2007). Defending life . New York : Cambridge University. Christensen, S, ; Rossen, A (1996). Teenage pregnancy . Retrieved 2011/ April/ 11, from http://community. michiana. org/famconn/teenpreg. html Cumberland, S (2010). Human rights and health go hand-in-hand.
Bulletin of the world health organization, 29(20), 4. Dexter, K (January, 04, 2004). Five ways to prevent abortion . Retrieved 04/04/2011, from http://www. plannedparenthoodnj. org/library/topic/planned_parenthood/five_ways_prevent_abortion. Feldt , G. (2004). The war on choice: The right-wing attack on women’s rights and how to fight back. New York, New York : Batam Dell. Jones, R, & Kooistra, K (2011). Abortion incidence and access to aervices in the United States, 2008. Retrieved 04, 04, 2011, from http://search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? irect=true&db=her&AN=59205728&site=ehost-live}, Norton, Jan, practice nurse, (March, 12, 2010). Teenage pregnancy and abortion, ebscohost, 03/20/2011, retrieved from http://web. ebscohost. com. proxy. devry. edu/ehost/detail? hid=112&sid=32b18b6b-8631-4309-9ec30b29be989e3b%40sessionmgr114&vid=7&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=c9h&AN=48872524 Olukoya, A. A, Kaya, A. (May, 19, 2000). Unsafe abortion in adolescents. Jigo. retrieved (03/20/2011) from http://www. ijgo. org/article/S0020-7292(01)00370-8/abstract Syndication, S (December, 28, 2010). Richer girls ‘more likely to have an abortion. 24, 1