Abortion Introduction Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, my speech for today is on Abortion. Firstly I am going to discuss the topic and then I will give illustrations of different methods of abortion. An abortion is the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. This can occur spontaneously as a miscarriage, or be artificially induced by chemical, surgical or other means. “Abortion” can refer to an induced procedure at any point during human pregnancy; it is sometimes medically defined as either miscarriage or induced termination before the point of viability.
Throughout history, abortion has been induced by various methods. The moral and legal aspects of abortion are subject to intense debate in many parts of the world. Personal and social factors On the reasons women seek to terminate their pregnancies concluded that common factors cited to have influenced the abortion decision were; desire to delay or end childbearing, concern over the interruption of work or education, issues of financial or relationship stability, and perceived immaturity. A 2004 study in which American women at clinics answered a questionnaire yielded similar results.
In Finland and the United States, concern for the health risks posed by pregnancy in individual cases was not a factor commonly given; however, in Trinidad and Tobago health concerns were cited by women more frequently as reasons for having an abortion. 1% of women study became pregnant as a result of rape and 0. 5% as a result of incest, 54% of women who had an abortion were using a form of contraception at the time of becoming pregnant while 46% were not. Inconsistent use was reported by 49% of those using condoms and 76% of those using oral contraception; 42% of those using condoms reported failure through slipping or breakage.
Abortion – Reasons Women Choose Abortion In the United States, about 6 million women become pregnant per year. Half of all pregnancies are unintended, and of all births, about 1 in 10 newborns have been reported as “unwanted. ” Each year, about 1. 3 million American women have an abortion to end a pregnancy. This number reflects a declining abortion rate, in part because more women are using emergency contraception to prevent unintended pregnancy in the first days after unprotected sex. The most common reasons women consider abortion are: • Birth control (contraceptive) failure.
Over half of all women who have an abortion used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. • Inability to support or care for a child. • To end an unwanted pregnancy. • To prevent the birth of a child with birth defects or severe medical problems. such defects are often unknown until routine second-trimester tests are done. • Pregnancy resulting from rape or incest. Every year, about 13,000 women choose abortion after suffering rape or incest. • Physical or mental conditions that endanger the woman’s health if the pregnancy is continued.
Some abortions are undergone as the result of societal pressures. These might include the stigmatization of disabled persons, preference for children of a specific sex, disapproval of single motherhood, insufficient economic support for families, lack of access to or rejection of contraceptive methods, or efforts toward population control (such as China’s one-child policy). These factors can sometimes result in abortion or sex-selective abortion. In many areas, especially in developing nations or where abortion is illegal, women sometimes resort to “back-alley or back street ” or self-induced procedures.
The World Health Organization suggests that there are 19 million terminations annually which fit its criteria for an unsafe abortion. Teen pregnancy About 30% of pregnant teens choose to have an abortion. About 60% of women under age 18 having an abortion have a parent who knows of the abortion; the majority of these parents support their daughters’ decision. (In the United States, some states require a parent’s consent for women under the age of 18 before they can have an abortion. In these states, however, a minor has the right to seek a court order allowing an abortion without a parent’s consent.
The most common reasons that teens and young women choose to have an abortion include: • Awareness that they are not mature enough to have a child. • Knowledge that they are financially not able to support or care for a child. • Concern that having a baby would change their lives and compromise their (and a child’s) future-many young mothers don’t ever manage to get the education and employment necessary to raise their child above the pover-ty line. Physical side effects Physical side Effects after an abortion will vary from woman to woman.
However After an abortion, you may experience the following side effects for up to two weeks: • Abdominal pain and cramping • Nausea • Vomiting • Diarrhea • Spotting and Bleeding • Severe abdominal and back pain that prohibits you from standing up • Bleeding that is heavier than a normal menstrual period • Foul-smelling discharge • Fever above 100. 4 F • Continuing symptoms of pregnancy Mental health Most women have an after effect of Post-abortion syndrome (PAS) is a term used to describe a set of mental health characteristics which some researchers claim to have observed in women following an abortion.
The psychopathological symptoms attributed to PAS are similar to those of post-traumatic stress disorder, but have also included, “repeated and persistent dreams and nightmares related with the abortion, intense feelings of guilt and the ‘need to repair'”. Whether this would warrant classification as an independent syndrome is disputed by other researcher. Abortion Methods Surgical Abortions There are many methods of abortion. The procedure used depends largely upon the stage of pregnancy and the size of the unborn child. Dr. J. C.
Willke, in his book, (Abortion Questions and Answers), has divided the methods of abortion into three main categories: those that invade the uterus and kill the child by instruments which enter the uterus through the cervix; those that kill the preborn child by administration of drugs and then induce labour and the delivery of a dead baby; and, those that invade the uterus by abdominal surgery. Dilation of the uterus is required in cervical methods of abortion. The usual method of dilation is to insert a series of instruments of increasing size into the cervix.
A set of dilators, metallic curved instruments, are used to open the cervix sufficiently to accommodate the instruments of abortion. In contrast with a normal birth, where the dilation occurs slowly over a period of many hours, the forceful stretching by the abortionist to open the cervix takes a matter of seconds. This premature and unnatural stretching of the cervix can result in permanent physical injury to the mother. [pic] The diagram above illustrate Suction Aspiration Suction Aspiration Method is the most common method of abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
General or local anaesthesia is given to the mother and her cervix is quickly dilated. A suction curette (hollow tube with a knife-edged tip) is inserted into the womb. This instrument is then connected to a vacuum machine by a transparent tube. The vacuum suction, 29 times more powerful than a household vacuum cleaner, tears the fetus and placenta into small pieces which are sucked through the tube into a bottle and discarded. Dilation and Curettage (D) This method is similar to the suction method with the added insertion of a hook shaped knife (curette) which cuts the baby into pieces.
The pieces are scraped out through the cervix and discarded . [pic] The above illustrate Salt Poisoning: Used after 16 weeks to 18 week (four months) when enough fluid has accumulated. A long needle injects a strong salt solution through the mother’s abdomen into the baby’s sac. The baby swallows this fluid and is poisoned by it. It also acts as a corrosive, burning off the outer layer of skin. It normally takes somewhat over an hour for the baby to die from this. Within 24 hours, labor will usually set in and the mother will give birth to a dead or dying baby. There have been many cases of these babies being born alive. They are usually left unattended to die. However, a few have survived and later been adopted. ) [pic] The above diagram illustrate Dilation and Evacuation (D) This method is used up to 18 weeks’ gestation. Instead of the loop-shaped knife used in D&C abortions, a pair of forceps is inserted into the womb to grasp part of the fetus. The teeth of the forceps twist and tear the bones of the unborn child. This process is repeated until the fetus is totally dismembered and removed.
Usually the spine must be snapped and the skull crushed in order to remove them. [pic] Chemical Abortion: This form of abortion uses chemicals developed by the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Co. which cause the uterus to contract intensely, pushing out the developing baby. The contractions are more violent than normal, natural contractions, so the unborn baby is frequently killed by them — some have even been decapitated. Many, however, have also been born alive. . [pic] The above diagram illustrated five steps to a Partial Birth Abortion: 1) Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby’s legs with forceps. ) The baby’s leg is pulled out into the birth canal. 3) The abortionist delivers the baby’s entire body, except for the head 4) The abortionist jams scissors into the baby’s skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the skull. 5) The scissors are removed and a suction tube is inserted. The child’s brains are sucked out, causing the skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed. Alternatives Adoption is an option for pregnant women who do not want to raise a child but are unwilling or unable to have an abortion.
Adoption agencies, crisis pregnancy centers, family service agencies, family planning clinics, or state social service agencies are available for women to contact for more information about the adoption process. In addition, protection from becoming pregnant is very important; condom and birth control (contraceptive) methods must be considered to avoid unwanted pregnancy and abortion. Conclusion Women are not told of the many harmful physical and psychological effects of abortion. It is NOT safe. There are, for example, fifteen psychological risk factors that need to be investigated before this procedure.
They usually aren’t. Women who have abortions are twice as likely to have a miscarriage if they get pregnant again. One of the reasons for this is “cervical incompetence”. During an abortion the cervical muscle is hastily stretched open, and hence can be rendered too weak to stay closed for another pregnancy. Another complication is ectopic pregnancy, a life-threatening situation in which, due to scar tissue in the womb from the scraping of the abortion, a fertilized ovum is blocked from entering the uterus and so begins growing in the fallopian tube and eventually ruptures it.
Since abortion was legalized in some country , ectopic pregnancies have risen 300%. Many other physical complications can arise. It has also been proven that complications and deaths of women from abortions are UNDER-REPORTED, and recorded under different causes than abortion. I thank you for listening to my speech on abortion. I hope that this significant information would be valuable in one’s future and aid in prolonging human life. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Numerous of friends, relatives and members of various religious groups have contributed their ideas and valued information.
I wish to thank my teacher Miss Margaret Ramphal for the information garnered and the professional manner in which it was translated. BIBLIOGRAPHY http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Abortion http://images. google. tt/imgres? imgurl=http://www. surgeryencyclopedia. com/images/gesu_01_img0011. jpg=http://www. surgeryencyclopedia. com/A-Ce/Abortion-Induced. html=450=357=17=en=11=1=o2bxz9aTZjvhAM:=127=101=/images%3Fq%3Dabortion%2B%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den http://women. webmd. com/tc/Abortion-Reasons-Women-Choose-Abortion
