Today, 76 percent of the world's people live in countries where induced abortion is legal, at least for health reasons, and 39 percent reside in nations where abortion is available upon request. The procedure is legal in nearly every developed country, and although a majority of developing countries prohibit abortion, 67 percent of the residents of the developing world live in countries where it is permitted at least for health reasons. The other 33 percent-more than one billion people, most of living in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the more strongly fundamentalist Islamic nations-have little of no access to legal induced abortion. Although many women around the world are unable to obtain legal abortions when they need them, the current world situation differs considerably from conditions prevailing 50 years ago, when nearly every nation-outlawed abortion. The first definitive steps toward legalization of abortion were taking in Northern Europe during the 1930s and gained momentum in the years following World War two, when the socialist nations of Eastern and Central Europe (with the exception of Albania) adopted laws permitting first-trimester abortions either the woman's request of on the basis of broadly interpreted social indications. Many other developed countries, including the United States, followed suit in the 1960s and 1970s. By the beginning of the 1986, induced abortions could be legally obtained for health reasons in North American and in every European country except Belgium, Ireland, and Malta. Although in many of these nations certain restrictions apply to the provision of abortion, especially in the second trimester, almost any woman who wants can get a legal first-trimester abortion. Thus, the lega... ... middle of paper ... ... where out-of-hospital abortions are permitted, increasing proportions are performed in clinics or doctors' offices. In West Germany, for example, the proportion of abortions that are provided outside of hospitals increased from 15 percent in 1977 to 57 percent in 1984. Even where hospital abortions are mandated, there has been an almost universal trend toward performing hospital abortions as outpatient procedures. In Sweden, the proportion of outpatient abortions rose from 16 percent in 1971 to 83 percent in 1983. Hungary is the only European nation that requires all abortion patients to stay in the hospital overnight; 82 percent stay only one night. In West Germany, 19 percent of abortions performed in 19984 involved a hospital stay of four days of more, and the average duration of hospitalization among women who had suction curettage abortion was four days.
Abortion is a procedure carried out to terminate a pregnancy. In 1967, liberal Member of Parliament David Steel introduced the Abortion Act. This legally permitted abortion to be carried out by a medical practitioner in England, Scotland and Wales (Glennerster 2000). Since the implementation of this policy, numbers of abortion have gradually increased. In 2010 almost two hundred thousand procedures were carried out in England and Wales, ninety-six per cent of which were funded by the National Health Service (Department of Health 2011). To access the strengths and weaknesses of abortion regulation a number of areas must be considered. Following a brief section about the background and development of abortion policy, the legal requirement of two doctor consent will be discussed. Repercussions of this legality will be used to justify why the requirement is considered an outdated obligation that weakens abortion regulation. The extent of abortion provision will then be argued as a weakness by sending a troubling message to society. This will interconnect with the need for restrictions in abortion provision, a concept supported by the further discussion of related health risks. Counterarguments will then consider the procedure step by step and suggest that regulations enable a process efficient and suitable for both the hospital and patient. Finally, medicalisation will be discussed as the most prominent strength of the British approach to abortion in regards to safety.
As one knows, some unwanted pregnancies could often be harmful and distressing for a woman. Women should have the right over their body to choose to sustain the fetus or not. In the past decades, women did not have their freedom of abortion in many countries of the world. There have always been controversies going on about abortion. Each individual has dissimilar views on the legality of abortion. Some people are against abortion for personal religious purposes and beliefs. For those who don’t believe in abortion, it is because they see it as killing a fetus, which is a human being. Others support abortion because they believe in women’s rights. Laws of abortion vary in each country, and abortion is not legal all over the world. It is illegal under any conditions but only permitted to save woman’s life if in countries such as Brazil, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, and Ireland. However, abortion is legal without any restrictions in countries like Canada, Albania, and Italy. It the past decades Abortion was considered as criminal act in Canada. “If an abortion was carried out without such approval, the woman was liable for imprisonment for 2 years, an...
In a 2006 study conducted by the CDC, it was reported that 53-56% of abortions were performed on white women between the ages of 20 and 29. Among the 46 states that provided data consistently during 1996--2006, a total of 835,134 abortions (98.7% of the total) were reported; the abortion rate was 16.1 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15--44 years, and the abortion ratio was 236 abortions per 1,000 live births. During the previous decade (1997--2006), reported abortion numbers, rates, and ratios decreased 5.7%, 8.8%, and 14.8%, respectively; most of these declines occurred before 2001. During the previous year (2005--2006), the total number of abortions increased 3.1%, and the abortion rate increased 3.2%; the abortion ratio was stable. (CDC, 2009)
Abortions have created many debates because it relates to ethical, moral, and legal issues throughout the world, because it is legal this topic is going viral. This issue leads to the question of the baby’s rights and the women’s rights. Abortion should NOT be legal anywhere because it not only takes away a human life, but can also affect your mental and emotional health, and it takes away a teenager’s/adult’s accountability.
The number of abortions and abortion providers have slowly declined since the 1980’s. The article provides facts about the amount of providers available and the amount of abortions that take place. Therefore, with the amount of abortion providers declining, many women have limited access to this procedure and cannot exert their right to have an abortion.
“Back-alley abortions cause 68,000 of maternal deaths each year in the 33 countries where abortion is not legal or available, according to the World Health Organization” (abortion procon 1). Back-alley abortions are typically done not by a professional, but by anyone whom the idea comes to and dares to take action. The process stems with a coat hanger instead of legit medical supplies. Unfortunately, many women die during the process.
Illegal abortions performed in unsafe conditions contribute to a great number of deaths every year. According to Wendy Wanlund, “In 1930, illegal abortion was the official cause of death for nearly 2,700 women, or 18 percent of childbirth-related deaths recorded that year” (Abortion Debates). In the more than four decades since Roe v. Wade was decided, thousands of American women’s lives have been saved by access to legal abortion care. Furthermore, making abortions illegal would force women to go about terminating their unwanted pregnancies with unsafe procedures. Every year, millions of women in the developing world are treated for complications from unsafe pregnancy termination. These complications can include heavy bleeding, infection and sepsis, as well as more severe conditions, such as lacerations or uterine perforation, that can put a woman 's life at risk. Lack of access to abortion clinics does not result in fewer abortions, it results in unsafe and illegal abortions.
When permitted by local law, abortions are one of the safest procedures in medicine. The World Health Organization recommends safe and legal abortions be available to all women. Around 44 million abortions occur each year in the world, with a little under half done unsafely. Unsafe abortions could become a less prominent medical procedure in the United States if the laws were changed, allowing women to have abortions at a reputable clinic. However, many states in America have ruled that abortions are illegal, forcing women to find illegal and less safe places to obtain an abortion. Some women even attempt to cause themselves to miscarry, which can lead to very serious health problems.
Thirty-four percent of abortion providers were hospitals in 2008, but these facilities accounted for only 4% of all abortions. Many hospitals provide abortions only in cases of fetal anomaly or serious risk to the
...here abortion was permitted only to save a woman's life contained about 20 per cent of the world's population. Countries with moderately restrictive laws—abortions permitted to protect a woman's health, to end pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, to avoid genetic or congenital defects, or in response to social problems such as unmarried status or low income—contained some 40 per cent of the world's population. Abortions at the woman's request, usually with limits based on physical conditions such as duration of pregnancy, were allowed in countries with nearly 40 per cent of the world's population. In the United States, legislation followed the world trend.
Abortion is the interruption of an unwanted pregnancy. It is considered to be a procedure where a woman kills the fetus before being born. A lot of women have gone to illegal clinic’s knowing that is wrong to get an abortion. They risk their lives and wellbeing just to get rid of a problem that they have created. There are some countries’ that do not allowed women to get an abortion no matter of what reasons they might have. Woman have to think twice before getting an abortion done. This matter should not be taken lightly because of all the risks factors a woman could have later on in her life. Abortion should be considered illegal in all countries.
According to CNN (cable news network), since the legality of abortions by the supreme courts in 1973, the number of abortions has increased gradually. The CDC (centers for disease control and prevention) reported 1,292,606 abortions in 1980. The number count continued by millions until the year 2000. Rates began to decrease, but the numbers still remained high. 2009 is the year CDC has recently given reports on the statistics of abortion in the United States. The ratio in that year has been 227 out of 1000 live births. 64% of abortions legally induced were performed at eight or fewer weeks during the gestation period. Women ages 20-29 were the 57.1% who went for an abortion. 51.2 % of the women were white (including Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women) 41.2% of the women were black, and 7.6% of adult females from other races. The top three states with the most abortions were: New York, Florida, and Texas. The statistics shown is inco...
Expecting to completely eliminate abortions from the face of the earth by making them illegal and getting rid of the facilities that provide them is an awfully absurd idea due to the fact that abortions will never cease to exist. Induced abortions have taken place all over the world, and “societies have [been struggling with] the issue of abortion for millennia” (Abortion). Within countries where abortions are essentially illegal, many turn to unsafe abortion methods, usually performed by unskilled practitioners (Chapter 5). These procedures are “often unsanitary… and [result] in the death or mutilation of many women” (Abortion). In areas where these services are not attainable, many women are prompted to seek out specialists to assist them in dangerous and surreptitious methods of abortion such as repeated blows to the stomach and the insertion of bizarre objects in the vagina and cervix. However, abortion-related deaths are usually quite rare in developed countries where the service is both legal and accessible. It is estimated...
Abortion has been a complex social issue in the United States ever since restrictive abortion laws began to appear in the 1820s. By 1965, abortions had been outlawed in the U.S., although they continued illegally; about one million abortions per year were estimated to have occurred in the 1960s. (Krannich 366) Ultimately, in the 1973 Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, it was ruled that women had the right to privacy and could make an individual choice on whether or not to have an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. (Yishai 213)
On the same note, the prohibition of abortion often results in deaths of women. Scholars have noted that the prohibition of abortion would not essentially stop women from undergoing the procedures. In instances where they feel that it is imperative that they go through the procedure, they always undertake it albeit in secret and dangerous circumstances where they cannot access medical care (Boonin, 20...