Abortion

Abortion

Introduction

The process of terminating pregnancy which ultimately results in fetus's death is known as abortion. Amongst the most common medical procedures performed every year in US, abortion is one. According to present statistics, more than 40 percent women dwelling in the United States terminate their pregnancy by attempting to different methods of abortion; however, 3 to 15 percent of abortion occurs in the form of miscarriages. Miscarriages represent, spontaneous abortions, which are unplanned. These may occur due to a number of reasons ranging from abnormal development of the fetus to sudden injury or illness of the mother. Globally, 13 percent of death occurring amongst pregnant women is due to abortion (Jones, 2008). Abortion is the focus of some of the most intense social, cultural, political, religious, and ethical debates in modern American society. Some regard abortion as something people should be able to choose while others say abortion is a great evil which is destroying the moral fabric of society.

Abortion

An abortion is termed as death and expulsion of the fetus from the uterus before five months of pregnancy. After this date until 28 weeks of pregnancy it is called immature and premature delivery is if over 28 weeks. When pregnancy that occurs due to certain issues or complexity we call this abortion as miscarriage and it comes under the umbrella of abortion that is spontaneous. Abortion that is called therapeutic is done due to illness faced by the female during pregnancy while induced abortion for any other reason is known as selective abortion.

Induced abortions have been occurring since ancient times. It has a long history and has been happening in several ways, including herbs, the use of sharp tools, physical trauma and other traditional methods. While modern medicine utilizes medications and surgical procedures to induce abortion. The legality, custom, culture and views on abortion vary from country to country (Grote, 2007).

Factors Leading To Abortion

Every year around 1.2 million women in the United States end their pregnancy by abortion. However, the decision about going for abortion is very personal, but, the reasons women usually come up with are:

Failure of birth control (contraceptive pills).

Lack of resources to support a child.

The pregnancy is unwanted.

Pregnancy as a consequence of rape.

Methods of Abortion

On a broader spectrum, there are three major methods of abortion. These include; induced abortion, surgical abortion and drug based abortion. Amongst these three, induced abortion, since the age of the fetus is determined prior to performing the procedure. Drug based abortion also known as medication abortion is caused due to the usage of two types of drugs; mifepristone and misoprostol. These two drugs are believed to cause complication in the pregnancy as a consequence of internal damages to the body, which ultimately leads to the death of fetus. Similarly, as the name implies surgical abortion is carried out using surgical methods, by professional doctors well trained in their respective domain. Others methods include vacuum aspiration and dilation and curettage and so forth (Finer, 2006).

Types of Abortion Procedures

Usually a normal pregnancy lasts ...