Abortion Throughout History

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Recommended: Viewing abortion through a sociological lens

Abortions are known as the termination of a pregnancy before the fetus is considered a “living human” often before the mother of the fetus is twenty eight weeks pregnant. Abortions were established many years ago, 500 B.C.E. to be exact. Many cultures have taken different approaches and methods to create “abortions”. The most common have been abortifacient herbs, the use of sharpened implements, abdominal pressure, cutting the fetus from the uterus, and other techniques. Being that abortions go back into the Roman time period, there is no telling who first discovered them but there are many great philosophers who expressed their thoughts, opinions, and gratitude on this touchy issue. During the Roman time period abortions were used to get rid of an unwanted fetus in many cases if the woman was pregnant out of wedlock, during adultery, or if a woman was considered “unworthy” of birth. Women who were prostitutes were often shunned and told and/or made to get abortions. Nowadays Women may use the same reasons to get an abortion with an extension of other social issues. For Instance, there are many teen pregnancies. It is a proven fact that teenage mothers are not capable to provide for a child better than if she had planned to get pregnant. Not saying that a teenager is not capable of being a mother nor a good one it is just way harder to care for a child and you still have to care for yourself as a child. Another reason women then and now could’ve been driven to get an abortion could be if they were raped at the time of the fetus being conceived. Many women know that they could not care for the child without being biased towards it because of the hurtful situation so they rather get rid of what they may consider “a remin... ... middle of paper ... ...destruction of the fetus or unborn child while the child is still here. Abortion proponents want to talk about the issue only from a women’s rights perspective. But surely the other life involved, the one abortion ends, also deserves consideration. The rest of us need to stand up for the nights of those without a voice. It makes me hopeful seeing a shift in public opinion that we are close to ending this period of blatant disrespect for life. The controversy within the biomedical ethics topic, abortion, has two main proponents. The first is the view against abortion, also known as pro-life. The other view, is rooted upon the belief of the being pro-choice, or basically for abortions. These two different views are like two mathematical principles, in that although these two views have many differences, they also have larger similarities in the background.

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