INDUCED ABORTION QUESTIONNAIRE

1) What is your gender? o Male o Female 2) What is your occupation? ________________________ 3) To what ethnic group do you belong? o African Descent o Asian Descent ( Indian / Chinese (please select one)) o Caucasian Descent o Mixed Descent 4) What is your age range? o 18 20 o 21 30 o 31 up 5) What is your religion? o Judaism o Rastafarianism o Christianity o Islam o Other (specify) ________________________ If you are a Christian, state your denomination ______________________ 6) What is your perspective on induced abortion? o It is right o It is wrong o It depends on the situation (specify)___________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 7) What do you think is the leading cause of abortion globally?

o o o o o

Rape Teenage pregnancy Poverty Unwantedness of the child Other (specify)__________________________________________________________

8) If a victim is raped do you think she should abort her child? o Yes o No State why for your answer above __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 9) Do you think abortion should be legalized? o Yes o No 10) Based on your answer in question 8), what do you think should happen to the doctors who induce abortion illegally? o They should be incarcerated in prison and have their medical license revoked o They should have their medical license revoked only o They should go unpunished o Other (specify)___________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 11) What measures would you take to prevent abortion? o Provide contraceptives in clinics o Plan campaigns to show the effects of abortion o Provide contraceptives in schools o Other (specify)___________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ What would cause a pregnant mother to want an abortion? o Health issues

12)

o Cultural ethics o Religion o Rape 13) Why would a mother not want a child? o She is emotionally unprepared o Child may be retarded o She is under age o no plan for babies How does abortion affect the mother? o Emotionally o Mentally o Spiritually o Physically When do you feel life begins? o As a foetus o When it leaves the mothers womb o While it is in its mothers womb (after being a foetus) Who has the right to live and state why? o Mother o Foetus _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ How does abortion affect the family? o Mentally o Emotionally o Spiritually

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15)

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17)

Procedures used to collect data

A total of 40 questionnaires were distributed. Six of which were distributed to the members of my school, 22 to the members of my community and 12 to the workers of a doctors office. A minimum of 30 was expected to return. It was made sure that the questionnaires were distributed to sexes evenly. Firstly, I randomly picked 11 houses out of 22 in my community and distributed to two adult members of the household. This was done by taking 22 bits and pieces of papers and writing a house number on each. They were then placed in a box and 11 bits of papers were drawn. They were given a day to answer the questionnaires. Since the questionnaires age range is 18 and above, I distributed the questionnaire to 6 selected members of my year group. The remainder which was 12 were distributed to members of a randomly picked doctors office as it was thought that a doctors opinion would also be valid. The students of my year group and the workers of the doctors office were given a day to answer the questionnaire.

Presentation and explanation of data

A total of 40 questionnaires were distributed, and all were retuned. Of these respondents 50% were male and 50% were female.
40% 35% % of respondents 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% % of respondents

Global Causes of Abortion

Fig.1: column graph showing the global causes of abortion

Figure 1 shows what respondents think the leading cause of abortion is. The leading thought or response is rape as 38% of the respondents selected, teenage pregnancy has 26% of the responses, poverty has 20%, unwantedness of the child has 11% and finally other answers have 5% of the responses.

22% mentally 50% 18% emotionally spiritually physical

10%

Fig.2: Pie chart showing how abortion affects the mother Figure 2 represents the effects of abortion on the mother. 50% of the respondents said that the mother is physically damaged or affected by the process. 22% say that the mother is mentally affected, 18% says emotionally and 10% spiritually.

responses

other Clinic contraceptives plan campaigns School Contraceptives

0%

20%

40%

60%

% of respondents

Fig.3: Bar Chart showing the ways in which abortion can be prevented Figure 3 indicates what preventative measures that can be taken against abortion. Most of respondents said that contraceptives can be provided at the clinic (50%). As opposed to providing contraceptives at school (10%). This shows that many people oppose the thought of providing youths with contraceptives as the belief that youths should not be sexually active in school. 35% of the respondents agree to planning effective campaigns against abortion while 5% of the respondents had other opinions.

14%

right 25% 61% wrong depends

Fig.4: pie chart showing the thoughts of the respondents Figure 4 indicates the view that that the respondents have based on abortion. Most of the respondents said that it depends on the situation (61%). As opposed to the people who think that abortion is right which is right (14%). 25% of the respondents said that it is indeed wrong.

Interpretation of data
A majority of the respondents stated that it depends on the situation that which the mother is going through. This means that the majority of the respondents think that there is a valid reason to have an abortion. One of the most specified answers was poverty. This means that the person having an abortion is facing financial situations, and is not financially prepared to have a baby. Another common specified answer was rape. This could mean that the person who has been raped would be emotionally scarred and the child that they would bare would remind them of the memory. Most of the respondents think that rape is the most caused reason for abortion while the least caused reason is the unwantedness of the child. This is 38% of the respondents against 11% . Respondents mainly thought that women who have an abortion are affected physically. This means that most of the respondents believe that women struggle with side effects that may result in death, while other respondents believe that the mother struggles emotionally, spiritually and mentally. Most of the respondents (50%) believe that a way to prevent abortion is to provide contraceptives at clinics. Thus it is right to say that most respondents believe that providing more contraceptives freely will help to prevent unprepared impregnation. This way the people who are impoverished can enjoy a healthy sexual lifestyle without having to worry about children. Others (35%) agreed that planning campaigns would be effective. This means that the respondents believed that planning campaigns to show the harmful effects of abortion and showing other reasonable solutions to preventing these effects would help to lower the abortion rate. Also the campaigns can provide recommendations of to do with the child or what to do to prevent having a child. It is agreeable to say that most of the respondents are against providing contraceptives to schools. As in Jamaica where Christian beliefs are prominent, this is unacceptable in the eyes of many Jamaican adults, however the little that agreed to providing

contraceptives to school students probably think it reasonable as, believe it or not, many students at the age of 18 and over are sexually active.

Findings
The survey has shown that there are a number of deficiencies with accordance to induced abortion. These are:1. It was found that most people believe that the leading cause of abortion is rape. However this wrong as the most spoken reason for abortion is indeed the unwantedness of the child. 2. It was also found that the respondents thought that the main reason for a pregnant woman to want an abortion is due to the health issues of carrying a baby, while it is fact that less than 1% of
abortions are done based off of the health issues faced.

3. It was also observed that more 60% of the responses were that the mother has all the right to live more than the foetus.

Recommendations
Abortion is the termination of a foetus of an impregnated mother. This is done for many reasons which as seen in the survey is mostly done for the mothers comfort. Although abortion might be socially wrong as it is killing a child that could probably bring promising features useful to this world, the mother can also face harmful effects that may result in death. In order to prevent this there are recommendations that might seem useful as it will protect the life of the child and the life of the mother. One very vital recommendation is that you (as a woman) research about yourself and your family. With this information the woman can know whether or not she can handle having a child or not. Thus preventing the termination of the future of a promising child. Also preventing the harmful side effects of abortion which may result in death. This is known as the research phase. In the case of rape where the woman can be emotionally scarred just by the look of the child, she can instead put him or her up for adoption. There is no reason to terminate the child for what someone else has done when there is someone else in the world who desires a child. Or if she cannot manage to the tiresome process of adoption then she can visit councillors or therapists who can help her to grow and love the child. In order to implement the research phase one can request a proposal to the government to provide free tests in hospitals to see if a woman is capable of bearing a child problem free. This will give them valid information on whether the woman can bear children or not and in the case of she wanting to have a child but, however, she would have some problems; the doctor will then tell what she can do to prevent the different complications. This will help to lower the abortion rate.

 Statement of the problem

What are the causes, effects and possible solutions of abortion?

Method of Investigation
In order to collect data for my survey, a questionnaire was distributed to number of persons. The questionnaire is advantageous in the fact that : It does not require much of ones time. Persons have a day to answer the questionnaires It is guaranteed that the respondents of the questionnaire is granted with complete confidentiality.

Acknowledgement
In completing this study or research, it would have been impossible if it werent for the many people who assisted me. Firstly, I would like to thank almighty God for the strength to carry out this study as without him I would be lost. Secondly, I would like to thank my dear social studies teacher who has guided me along the way by correcting me for my mistakes. Lastly, and certainly not the least I would like to extend gratitude to the many people who had the patience and kindness to answer my questionnaire as it werent for them the statistics would have been made up and it would have been really hard to analyse the data and statistics.

Introduction
Abortion is process by which a foetuss life is destroyed or terminated before birth. It is often asked why do women have an abortion when there are other reasonable solutions. The researcher chose this topics as he too would like to reason with this question. Also the researcher chose this topic to find the possible reasons to why a woman would want an abortion, to find the effects that is dispelled on the woman after this process and the possible solutions to prevent these effects from threatening the very existence of the woman.

TABLE OF CONTENT
Acknowledgement. 1 Introduction2 Statement of problem.3 Method of Investigation.3 Instrument used to collect data...4 Procedures used to collect data...7 Presentation and Explanation of data..7 Interpretation of data...9 Findings ..10 Recommendations...11

CSEC SOCIAL STUDIES PROJECT SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT (S.B.A) (YEAR 2013) NAME OF CANDIDATE: MICHAEL BELL II SCHOOL: MANCHESTER HIGH SCHOOL CENTRE#:_______________________________ CANDIDATE#:_____________________________ TEACHER: MS. HOLNESS

TITLE:
A research for the cause, effects and solutions of

ABORTION