Abortion
WHY IS ABORTION ILLEGAL IN SOME CULTURES AND LEGAL IN OTHERS?
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ABORTION IS BANNED?
Definition & Methods
Abortion: intentionally terminate a pregnancy
Treatments depend on how many weeks pregnant, ability to be under anesthesia, etc.
First Trimester
◦ Abortion Pill: taking medicines to terminate pregnancy
◦ Surgical Abortion: considered a minor operation; performed awake, sedated, or asleep
Second Trimester: medicinal abortions not available in US >> need surgery Third Trimester: illegal in many states except in certain medical situations
◦ Most medical communities say the fetus is “viable” at 24 weeks gestation
◦ Where available: Induction Abortion & D&E (a.k.a. Partial Birth Abortion)
Legal Status Around the World
Major Categories:
◦ Save woman’s life / prohibited altogether [25.5% of world’s population; 66 countries]
◦ Preserve health [13.8% world’s population; 59 countries]
◦ Incest
◦ Rape
◦ Age
◦ Including Mental Health: Algeria, Colombia, Thailand
◦ Socioeconomic Grounds [21.3% world’s population; 13 countries
◦ Capacity to care for child: age, economic status, marital status
◦ Without Restriction As To Reason [39.5%
world’s population; 61 countries]
◦ Primarily North America, Europe, central & eastern Asia,
including China
◦ Most have gestational limits
Other Categories
◦ Spousal Consent Required: Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Morocco
◦ Parental Authorization for Minors: USA, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Poland, Norway
◦ Selective Sex Abortion Prohibited: China &
Nepal
◦ Permitted for fetal impairment: Mexico, Iran, Poland, England, Colombia
United States Abortion Laws
1973 Roe vs. Wade decision: SCOTUS ruled that a woman, in consultation with her
doctor, has a constitutionally protected right to choose an abortion in early stages of pregnancy
◦ Upheld in Planned Parenthood v. Casey 1992
◦ Protected by inherent right to privacy
Physician & Hospital Requirements – 38 states require abortions to be performed by licensed physicians; 19 in a hospital; 18 require second physician
Gestational Limits – 43 states prohibit abortions after a specified point in pregnancy, most often fetal “viability”
Partial-Birth – 19 states prohibit partial-birth (late term) abortions
Public Funding – 17 states use own funds to pay for all/most medically necessary
abortions for Medicaid enrollees; 32 states prohibit use of state funds except when
woman’s life is in danger or is victim of rape/incest
US Abortion Laws – Part II
Coverage by Insurance – 11 states restrict coverage of abortions in private insurance plans except in cases where it endangers woman’s life
Refusal – 45 states allow individual health care providers to refuse abortion
State-Mandated Counseling – 17 states mandate women be given counseling before an abortion
Waiting Period – 28 states require woman to wait, usually 24 hours, between counseling & procedure
Parental Involvement – 38 states require some type of parental involvement in a
minor’s decision to have an abortion; 25 states require one or both parents to
consent
New Jersey
Surgical abortion must be performed by licensed physician Must be done in a hospital if at 14 weeks
Partial Birth banned – permanently enjoined
Publicly funds all or most medically necessary abortions (for people on Medicaid) Providers may refuse to participate in abortion coverage (individual & private)
Parental involvement required for minors – notification only, but policy not in effect by court order
No laws on
◦ Second Physician
◦ Prohibition except in cases of life or health endangerment
◦ Restricting private insurance coverage
◦ Mandated counseling
2011 – 6 million
pregnancies among 63M women age 15-44
◦ 67% resulted in live birth
◦ 18% abortions
◦ 15% miscarriage
In New Jersey:
◦ 178,700 pregnancies
◦ 59% live birth
◦ 26% induced abortion
Pro-Choice Arguments
Women should have control over their bodies
◦ Empowers women
◦ Central to her independence
Right should not be limited by government or religious authority
◦ Supreme Court stated Constitution gives
“guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy … broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision to … terminate her
pregnancy”
Woman’s Right > Embryo’s Right
If illegal, women would resort to unsafe, illegal abortions
◦ 39 maternal deaths from illegal abortions in
1972
◦ WHO estimated 68,000 worldwide in 2004 Conception begins after fetus becomes
“viable” – able to live on its own outside the womb
◦ Your age is calculated from birth date, not conception date
◦ “Person” does not include the unborn Fetus does not feel pain
◦ Cortex, necessary for feeling pain, does not function until at least the 26
thweek (2012 American College of Obstetricians &
Gynecologists)
Pro-Choice Part II
Modern procedures are safe & do not cause cancer or infertility
◦ Less than 0.25% lead to major complications (Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2015)
◦ Pregnancy-related complications more common with childbirth than abortion
Women less likely to suffer mental health problems from abortions than women denied services
◦ Denied = more likely to be unemployed, on public welfare, poverty line, & domestic violence
Option to not bring fetuses with profound abnormalities to full term
◦ Some conditions guarantee death before or shortly after birth
◦ Anencephaly – brain is missing
◦ Limb-Body Wall Complex – organs develop
outside body
Baby should not be born unwanted Reduces welfare costs to taxpayers
Crime rates drop (children born when denied
abortions more likely to engage in criminal activity) Population Control
Some religious organizations support choice
◦ United Methodist & Presbyterian Church
◦ Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
◦ Bible does not explicitly condemn abortion
◦ Exodus – causing a miscarriage is a property crime
Pro-Life Arguments
Personhood begins at conception
◦ Often religiously-backed
◦ Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee…”
◦ Hindu holy text Kaushitaki Upanishad – abortion is equal to killing own parents
◦ Buddhism – rejects abortion because it involves deliberately destroying a life
Immoral killing of an innocent human
◦ Unborn babies considered humans by Unborn Victims of Violence Act – about 38 states
have similar laws
Unborn child suffers
◦ Maureen Condic, PhD. Associate Professor of Neurobiology & Anatomy at University of Utah School of Medicine – “most primitive response to pain, the spinal reflex” is developed by 8 weeks gestation
Roe v. Wade Decision is Wrong
◦ Justice Antonin Scalia – right to privacy is
“utterly idiotic”
◦ Rehnquist – abortion is not private
Pro-Life Part II
Abortions cause psychological damage
◦ Young women increase risk of depression (2008 Scandinavian Journal of Public Health)
◦ Significantly higher anxiety (BMC Medicine, 2005)
◦ 154% more likely to commit suicide (Southern Medical Journal, 2002)
Unfair to allow abortion when couples are waiting to adopt
Selective abortion based on genetic abnormalities is discrimination
Also disproportionately affects African American babies
◦ Black women 3.3X more likely than whites to have an abortion
◦ In NYC in 2012, more black babies were
aborted than had live births (NYC Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene)
Abortion should not be a type of contraception
Accept responsibility that comes with producing a child
Promotes a culture that human life is disposable
May lead to future medical complications for the mother
Eliminates potential contributions of future human being
Conditional Circumstances
Genetic Disorders: May seek to terminate pregnancy of fetus with genetic disorder
◦ Permitted legally in some countries: China, Cuba, Cyprus, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa
◦ Religions have flexible approach
◦ Premarital screening for thalassaemia in Iran >> terminate in first 16 weeks
Rape
◦ Pro – did not consent to action that led to pregnancy
◦ Con – does not erase memory of the rape; it is still a life
◦ Case 2015: 11-year old Paraguayan girl not allowed to get an abortion after raped by stepfather &
had the baby…
Incest
◦ Pro – most likely a bad environment in which to raise a child
◦ Con – it’s a life
Infanticide
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ABORTION IS ILLEGAL
OR WHEN GIRLS ARE UNDESIRABLE
Infanticide Definition
Killing of infant
◦ Outright or passively (Starvation, abandonment, etc.)
◦ Not same as selective-sex abortion, although that’s also controversial
◦ WHO lists it as a type of violence against women
Gendercide – intentional killing of a person based on gender
Girls more likely victim than boys
◦ Sociocultural factors:
◦ Dowry
◦ Earning power
◦ Potential Pensions
◦ Carry on surname
◦ Caste
◦ Government Policy (One Child Policy in China)
Has been practiced on every continent & every people, but today most problematic in China & India
Infanticide Statistics: China
In 2005, more than 1.1M excess births of boys occurred
◦ 88% single Chinese between 35-39 were male
◦ 99% women in the same age group were married
Girls 2x as likely to die in first year of life as boys; up to 3x in rural areas Risk of death is 3x higher for second-born girls
Parents who remarry are known to abandon child to have their own new one 40,000 orphanages in 1995
3,001 American adoptions of Chinese children in 2009, more than any other country
Marriage law prohibits female infanticide …
Infanticide Statistics: India
Economic constraint: daughters will require a sizeable dowry (although illegal) in order to marry
◦ But not confined to those in poverty or lower classes
◦ Even higher rates in Punjab, India’s richest state [85% of deaths among infants 7-36 months]
Regarded as temporary members of the family
◦ “Bringing up a daughter is like watering a neighbor’s plant
Many female fetuses are terminated
The Hindu newspaper reported average of 105 infants killed every month in Dharmapuri district throughout 1997
Estimated 6,000 female babies poisoned in Kallar villages in past decade Belief if you kill your baby, the next will be a son
Second, third, or fourth-born girls are at higher risk
◦ First-born daughters help with chores
