Abortion Controversy

Individual Project 4

Sarah Visentin

American Intercontinental University

Abstract

In the medical field there are many things that push the line of ethics. One of those is controversy of abortion. There are many pro-life arguments and there are just as many arguments to support it. However we will look at the few main pro-life arguments.

Abortion

         Abortion in its self is a topic that is deeply controversial and pushes the bounds of ethics.  In some cases there is no doubt in an individual’s mind that the idea of abortion is completely unacceptable; where as in some minds they believe that the choice to get an abortion is total up to the individual that plans to have an abortion.  There are a million different ways to break down and analyze the idea and consequences of abortion. By this period in society millions of women have had an abortion performed. However they now face the long term effects of this life changing procedure.

By definition abortion is “the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus” (Merriam-Webster, 2015). In my opinion, abortion is in its own definition murder.  As blunt as that is it is however my opinion.  And simply put murder is against any ethical and legal decision.  So also by definition abortion is the intentional act of harming or destroying the fetus of an unborn child.  There is no civilized society that allows this type of behavior toward any individual without punishment (Lowen, 2015).  So how is it acceptable to willingly harm an unborn child?  From the very beginning of education we are taught that life begins as soon as the ovum is fertilized by the semen. This in turn is called a zygote or embryo.  By definition an embryo is “a human or animal in the early stages of development before it is born” (Merriam-Webster, 2015).  For arguments sake life begins at fertilization.  Many would argue that it not the case; however a zygote is a single celled human being (Irving, 1999).  To fully understand this concept an individual will need to have the basic knowledge of how reproductive cells work.  The ovum and semen each carry half of the genetic information to form a new human being.  This genetic code is in the shape of 23 chromosomes, a human being is composed of 46 chromosomes for all intensive purposes of the abortion argument (Irving, 1999).  A zygote or embryo is a one celled human being, “the beginning of a new human being” ((Irving, 1999).  This unborn human being, immediately, begins to grow and develop.  The fact that once the ovum fertilized by semen makes an embryo that is a new and developing unborn human being makes abortion murder and defies the idea of the sanctity of human life (Lowen, 2015).

Another part of abortion is that not many people understand the long term effects of this life changing decision.  The individual that is considering an abortion needs to also understand the long term risks.  In many cases abortion will hinder them from being able to conceive in the future. This would include infertility or even premature deliveries. Abortion has also has been linked to miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy, meaning a pregnancy that is not in the uterus, these types of pregnancies can be very painful and life threatening.  Long term risks like cancers, are also abundant in post abortion female. Breast cancer is the main form of cancer linked to abortions.  Dozens of medical studies have established that there is a 30 percent increase in the risk of developing breast cancer in a female that has had an abortion (Stark, 2013).   More than just the physical risks there are also psychological risks.  An analysis published in British Journal of Psychiatry stated that there is an increase of 81 percent in developing psychological illness in women that have had an abortion (Stark, 2013).  These psychological illnesses vary in type, most are linked to depression or some form of anxiety and suicidal behaviors, others in a way attempt to self-medicate. They turn to alcohol and/or drugs to deal with the psychological effects of the abortion.  A Finnish study proclaimed that suicide increased by 6 times in women that have undergone an abortion (Stark, 2013).  More commonly, many women and men, regret the decision they have made to have an abortion.  There is a support group web site www.afterabortion.com that allows others whom have had an abortion communicate with women in the similar situation (Schwarzwalder, 2015). This site has millions of posts speaking of the regret and overwhelming guilt that comes after having the abortion.  Some confess that they have difficulty bonding with children conceived after the abortion and the inability to form and/or maintain a relationship (Schwarzwalder, 2015).