Abortion

One of the most controversial topics over the years is abortion. Is a murder or not? When does a fetus become a human? These questions may never be answered. Everyone has his or her own beliefs on whether or not abortion is moral.

Abortions have been performed throughout many of centuries. Recently, there have been a number of court cases that has changed the legality of abortions, especially in the United States. Even religions have changed views on abortions over the years. In the conflict of abortion, there were always two parties, pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life believes that abortion is a murder and is completely immoral. Pro-choice, however, believes that it is the mother’s choice if she wants to continue with her pregnancy or not. There are many ways that abortions are performed. Some are much safer. Even then, there are some serious side effects that may happen during or after an abortion, both physical and psychological.

A brief historical reference of abortion

According to scholars, before there was a legal system, in which abortions were decided just by your religious beliefs. Judaism believed that the life of someone already born is more important then that of the unborn. On the other hand, the Islam religion believes that a woman has the right to have an abortion, until the soul enters the fetus, between 40 to 120 days after conception. On the contrary, Buddhists believe that abortion is justifiable. They say that the fate of the unborn child is not to come into the world at this time. Moreover, Catholics didn’t believe that the soul entered the fetus until later, 40 days for boys and 90 days for girls. Only in 1869 did the Catholic Church declare that the soul entered the fetus at conception; therefore, abortion was murder. Until the second half of the nineteenth century, the English Common Law was that abortions were permitted until the baby started moving. There is one remarkable legal battle that changed the American abortion laws to what they are now, Roe v. Wade. It took place in 1973 in Texas. Roe, Norma McCorvey, was an anonymous plaintiff against the State. In addition, the ruling, abortion is legal. It gives the mother the right of whether or not to end her pregnancy. However, that does not give the woman the right to end her pregnancy for any reason during all nine months. “The court said that the woman may have an abortion until fetal viability, the time at which it first becomes realistically possible for a fetus to live outside the woman’s body. At that point the state’s interest outweighs the woman’s right” (Roe v. Wade). There are obvious exceptions to that law if the mother’s health is at risk. And just as a passing comment, Roe has now changed sides. She was an active abortion activist for close to 20 years. Now she is just as involved in the opposing side. She has converted to Christianity and has been baptized. She is a leader for the anti-abortionists.

Methods of abortion

Westside Pregnancy Resource Center claims, that the methods of abortion are divided into early abortions and later abortions. The newest method, just approved by the FDA, is the RU-486 pill. Also known as the abortion pill. It may be used from the fifth week until the seventh week of pregnancy. It is a chemical that interferes with the function of the placenta, which in turn starves the fetus. The abortion process lasts for a few days. The woman may bleed for about 9 days, and may experience nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and painful cramping. Another way of abortion is vacuum aspiration, used from the sixth week until the sixteenth week of pregnancy. This is performed by inserting a powerful suction tube into the uterus. The force of the suction removes the fetus. Possible complications are infection, cervical lacerations and uterine perforation. There is another method to abort a fetus, which is not approved by the FDA called methotrexate. It is used from the fifth week until the ninth week of pregnancy. Methotrexate interferes with the growth process, that is why it is used in the treatment of cancer. The last method used is the partial birth abortion. This used from the twentieth week until almost the last weeks of the pregnancy. The baby is pulled into the birth canal. Then a catheter is used to suction the baby’s brains, so it fits through the canal in one piece.

Possible risks related to abortion

According to the Westside Pregnancy Resource Center, the leading causes of abortion related deaths are hemorrhage, infection, embolism, anesthesia and undiagnosed ectopic pregnancies. The risk of breast cancer doubles for women having their first abortion. The risk of cervical cancer is 2.3 for those who have had an abortion. For those who