Running head: ABORTION

Effects of Abortion
Sandra Gallardo
Rowan Cabarrus Community College

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Effects of Abortion

Many people believe that the government is in control of almost everything in our daily
lives. Government officials are aware of what is being searched on the Internet and what is being
said over the phone. Abortion has always been a procedure over which the government has had
some type of control. The government at one point even made abortion an illegal procedure, but
it was overturned because pro-choice activists considered abortion to be something deeply
personal that can only be decided by a woman. Although early-stage abortion is becoming
somewhat common and safe, abortion should be illegal because it can cause medical
complications throughout a womans life, takes and punishes innocent lives, and violates civil
rights.
Imagine women being able to have babies without feeling any pain at all. This relief
might motivate women into changing their minds about having an abortion and could end any
complications during pregnancy, but this situation is impossible. Medical complications exist in
all types of surgery procedures. For example, the first trimester is one of the three periods of a
pregnancy. It lasts approximately twelve weeks from the time of conception (Rich, 2014). A
first trimester abortion is one of the safest medical procedures with minimal risk according to
Rich (2014). If this is the safest time to have an abortion, why do many women wait until the
second or third trimester to have an abortion? Both of these two trimesters are often referred to
as late-term abortion or partial birth abortion and are considered to be the most dangerous
time to have an abortion. Many women have no idea about how dangerous and deadly it can be
if they decide to have an abortion during the second and third trimesters. If it causes pain for
them, imagine the pain it might bring to an unborn child. Although it is unable to express its
feelings, from the time a cells start becoming an embryo to a fetus, it is a human being. Some

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possible side effects and risks of a late term - abortion are the inability to get pregnant again,
cramping in the uterus or pelvic pain, and incomplete removal of the unborn child or any other
contents of the uterus (Protect Texas 2003).

The further along in the pregnancy the abortion is,

the greater the chance of serious complications and the greater the risk of dying from the
abortion procedure. Medical complications can happen any time during the abortion procedure
from the beginning to later on in a womans life.
Many women have abortions that happen during the first six weeks of pregnancy which
means there is no heart beat, but what about the cells that are reproducing in a womans body?
Those cells could be creating the next president, a school teacher, or a famous basketball player.
Pro-life activists were thinking about these kinds of things during the Supreme Court case Roe v.
Wade. The history of abortion all comes back to the Supreme Court case Roe v Wade in which
the United States allowed abortion to be legal. In this court case, the victim Jane Roe argued that
the government was forcing her to have an unwanted child; her lawyers used the Ninth and
Fourteenth Amendments to back her case (Rich, 2014). The attorneys argued that the state took
a womans freedom away because she was not able to terminate an unwanted pregnancy (Rich,
2014). The state argued using the same amendments but towards the embryo or fetus instead of
the pregnant woman. Either way, in both situations laws are being violated. In todays society,
technology has created abortion into something that is not harmful because of the medical
procedure that exists now. No matter what type of abortion a woman decides to do -- surgery or
pill-- she is breaking the Fifth Amendment. Taking someones liberty away unborn or born is
illegal and should not be permitted unless it is under a very special circumstance such as rape or
an extreme health risk. Unwanted children due to a mothers desire not to have a child should be
no excuse for women to decide to have an abortion.

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One out of every four pregnancies end in abortion in the United States, making a total of
some 1.5 million procedures performed annually (Ballaro 2014). Although many of these
abortion procedures are done during the first trimester of pregnancy, eleven percent are
performed during the second trimester, which is a more advanced stage of pregnancy. The rest
of the abortion procedures are done at twenty-one weeks or later, and it is only two percent of the
total number of all abortions performed (Ballaro 2014). Although that eleven percent of all
abortions are only performed during the second trimester, late- abortion opponents still believe
that it punishes innocent lives and violates medicines ethical norms. The method that is
performed for second-trimester abortions and is the most common is Dilation and Evacuation
(D&E). This procedure involves the use of forceps to remove the fetus. The fetus is removed
into pieces, and it may involve crushing the fetuss skull to permit its passage through the cervix.
Not only is this inhumane but is morally wrong. Another method that is performed during the
second trimester is partial-birth, as opponents of late-term abortion call it, or Intact Dilatation
and Extraction (Intact D&X). During this procedure a living or stillborn fetus is removed intact
from the womb (Ballaro 2014). First, the fetus is pulled feet first out of the cervix until only the
head remains inside the birth canal. At this step, a suction device is used to extract all the brain
tissue, causing the skull to collapse, making an easier passage through the cervix (Ballaro 2014).
If this procedure must be performed, then it should be done safely and without any inhumane
methods. Pro-life activists should be more worried about telling people about these two types of
procedures because when people hear this, it will cause them to think about the unborn child, not
just what the mothers situation is. Researchers have actually proven that many of the late-term
abortions are performed because the child is unwanted, and half of pregnancies among American
women are unintended. Only small numbers have late-term abortion because of health reasons

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such as cancer. The only way to reduce the amount of late term abortion procedures is by
legislators enforcing stricter laws and only permitting partial-birth in certain circumstances.
The United States legislation says that partial- birth abortion is a gruesome and inhumane
procedure that is never medically necessary and should be prohibited (Chittom 2014).
Women during the years have earned each right they received. Men have always been
ranked before them, and until this day, in a way, they still are. The government has decided that
late-term abortion is inhumane and should be banned; but officials dont know that by potentially
not allowing women to have early or late stage abortion procedures they could be threatening
the life, liberty, and happiness of thousands of women (Rich 2014). Pro-choice activists who
agree that women should have the choice to abortion believe that women lose their liberty, and
have more responsibilities on their shoulder if they decide to have the child. If a mother does not
want a baby because she was raped, then that is understandable. In most cases, the baby is not
wanted so the easiest way to get rid of the child is by abortion. A method that could potentially
replace abortion is adoption if more information is spread of the procedures of late-term
abortion. Instead, many women can still give birth, but if the child is unwanted, then it should be
given up for adoption. Possibly the adoptive parents could be loving and caring, and that way
women still have their freedom and are not responsible for their child if they decide on adoption.
Research shows abortion is a life-threatening procedure that can be prevented. Every
time an abortion happens, an innocent unborn baby is punished, his or her rights are violated, and
lastly, consequences such as regret and medical complications may affect a woman throughout
the rest of her life. With better knowledge about abortion, women would have proper
understanding of the consequences and procedures of abortion. Once they realize these
consequences, they could be persuaded to make a better choice.

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