Argumentative Essay Sample on Abortion and Health

Introduction

Abortion has been and is still raising a lot of heated discussions in society as a whole. The vice is still widely practised and provides a complex challenge for health care professionals since it is a situation that incorporates matters of life and death. With the establishment of restrictive legislations and making it illegal in various countries, many women, as a result of unwanted or unplanned pregnancies are subjected to unsafe practices, in a bid to terminate the pregnancy. This causes the condition to result in approximately 13% of maternal deaths (Strefling et al., 2015). With the aim of changing this scenario, the United Nations in recent decades has actualized various world conferences to discuss issues relating to women's health, including their sexual and reproductive rights. There exists many arguments in line with providing a woman with the right to choose to either have an abortion hinge or the idea that we best value her autonomy by analysing her maximum options. In this case, the right to choose to have an abortion can be viewed as an essential ingredient in ensuring that the woman has a right to either choose what happens to her body or to determine when she wants to be a mother. However, this topic is controversial due to the fact that it touches on sensitive issues that rotate along the realms of philosophy, morality, and ethics. Therefore, what are the pro-choice (pros) and pro-life (cons) perspectives of abortion and which conclusions can we draw from the two perspectives?

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The decision to abort empowers women by giving them more control over their own bodies. The decision on when and whether to have children is dependent on a woman's independence and ability to determine her own future. The ability of a woman to engage equally in the economic and social life of the nation can be observed by their ability to define their reproductive lives. In line with the Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on her dissenting decision in Gonzales v. Carhart (2007), she argued that the undue restrictions on abortion infringe on a woman's autonomy to determine the course of her life and therefore negatively affecting her ability to enjoy the stature of equal citizenship. Moreover, the Supreme Court declared abortion as a "fundamental right" that is guaranteed by the US constitution. According to Lopez (2012), the landmark abortion case of Roe v. Wade that was decided on Jan. 22, 1973 provided a law that still remains to date, in favour of abortion rights. The 7-2 decision states that the constitution provides "a guarantee of certain areas of privacy," and the right of privacy includes a woman's decision to either terminate or carry her pregnancy.

Life starts at conception and therefore, unborn babies are still human beings and should be provided with a right to live. I concur with the point that women are equal to men and should be provided with an opportunity to decide on whatever happens to their bodies. However, we should look at this in a broader perspective of an extra innocent human being and not as a war on social inequalities. A human being is created upon fertilization with unique genetic identities and remains unchanged throughout their lifetime. Moreover, this individual has a fundamental right to life, just like any other living person had, which has to be protected. The killing of an innocent human being is therefore immoral, even when that human being is not yet born (Lopez, 2012). The government recognizes the unborn babies as human beings. Moreover, the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act that was established to protect unborn children resulting from incidences of assault and murder states that anybody that intentionally kills or tries to kill an unborn child should be punished.

The modern procedures for abortion are safe and do not result in lasting health issues that may include infertility or cancer. According to Swica (2009), abortion is among the safest medical procedures with less than 0.3% of the patients experiencing complications that would require hospitalization. A study by Obstetrics & Gynaecology showed that less than a quarter of one percent of abortions result in major health complications. The study showed that a woman's risk of dying from an abortion is 0.6 per every 100,000 samples while the risk of dying while giving birth is approximately 14 times higher than that of abortion, i.e., 8.8 in every 100,000 samples. Moreover, pregnancy-related complications were more prevalent during childbirth than during abortions. A statement from the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists states that "Abortion is one of the safest medical processes that is performed in the United States." They also reported that the mortality rate of a colonoscopy is likely to be 40 times more than that of abortion. The various medical bodies, i.e., the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the American Cancer Society (ACS) have in unison refuted the claims that abortions result in increased chances of developing breast cancer. All these claims make the process a shot worth taking.

It is obvious that abortion comes along with medical conditions and also results in psychological damage. According to Pourreza & Batebi (2011), who conducted a research on the psychological consequences of abortion among the post abortion care seeking women in Tehran, young adult women who undergo abortion are an increased risk of subsequent depression. The women recorded a high anxiety score of up to five years after the termination of the pregnancy. A study published by the Southern Medical Journal that used a sample of more than 173,000 women who aborted showed that they were 154% more likely to commit suicide compared to those who carried the term. Moreover, a report from the British Media Journal showed that the annual suicide rate among women who had experienced an abortion was 34.7 per 100,000 which was higher than the mean rate of the general female population (11.3 per 100,000). Therefore, in defining the outcomes of the vice, we should not only make emphasis on the general health and physical outcomes but also on the emotional effects on the culprits, which may as well cost them their lives.

An unwanted baby should not be welcomed into the world. Having a child is a vital decision that requires proper preparation, consideration, and planning. A statement from The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said that "birth defects are linked to low birth weight, increased risk of child abuse, maternal depression, delays in entry into prenatal care, lower levels of educational attainment, reduced levels of breastfeeding and high risks of physical violence during pregnancy." Moreover, 45% of all the pregnancies among the American women are unintended and this shows the high levels of the above listed effects. According to Lopez (2012), women, especially in western cultures are more focused on their careers before raising a family, leaving abortion as the most appropriate way to continue with their careers.

Abortion establishes a culture that views human life as disposable. Legalizing abortion shows that human life has little to no value. The House Representative Randy Hultgren (R-IL), in Jan. 2014, wrote that " When we tell one another that abortion is okay, we reinforce the idea that human lives are disposable, and that we can easily through away anyone or anything that is inconveniencing use." According to Sheldon (2015), while abortion is currently offered as a routing part of the modern NHS-funded reproductive healthcare centres, the legal framework regulating the vice is rooted in conservative and punitive values of the mid-Victorian era.

Conclusion

To conclude, pro-life is a controversial debate that has taken place for several decades. Some individuals believe that termination of pregnancy is acceptable if it takes place within the first trimester and has occurred in the event of rape, incest or due to the health effects of the mother. However, some believe that the foetus should be given an opportunity to lead a successful life. I support the later and I believe that carrying the pregnancy comes along with more merits to the woman, family and society at large compared to terminating the baby since no one knows about the future of the child. Healthcare professionals should also educate pregnant women and their families regarding the procedures involved and the associated aftermath. Nurses should provide competent care as there professional ethics require them, even though the decision may be against their personal belief.

References

Lopez, R. (2012). Perspectives on Abortion: Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, and What Lies in Between, EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. Pdfs.semanticscholar.org. Retrieved 25 February 2019, from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bbdc/b17b6616460d58ecb0efab1e31da8507329a.pdf

Pourreza, A. & Batebi, A. (2011). Psychological Consequences of Abortion among the Post Abortion Care Seeking Women in Tehran. Iranian Journal Of Psychiatry, 6(1), 31. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3395931/

Sheldon, S. (2015). The Decriminalisation of Abortion: An Argument for Modernisation. Oxford Journal Of Legal Studies, 36(2), 334-365. doi:10.1093/ojls/gqv026

Strefling, I., Filho, W., Kerber, N., Soares, M. & Ribeiro, J. (2015). Nursing Perceptions about Abortion Management and Care: A Qualitative Study. Scielo.br. Retrieved 25 February 2019, from http://www.scielo.br/pdf/tce/v24n3/0104-0707-tce-2015000940014.pdf

Swica, Y. (2009). NEJM Journal Watch: Summaries of and commentary on original medical and scientific articles from key medical journals. Modern Methods of Abortion. Jwatch.org. Retrieved 25 February 2019, from https://www.jwatch.org/wh200906040000001/2009/06/04/modern-methods-abortion