OPTION C: CONCEIVING CHILDREN: PROCESS AND CHOICE

Select a topic from the text and conduct some independent Internet research. Topics may include
infertility, reproductive technologies, gendered perspectives on fertility and reproduction,
reproductive choice, abortion, childbirth options, medical interventions during childbirth, fathers
and fertility, the rights of mother and fetus, the impact of technology on reproductive
implications, sperm banks, and reproductive ethics. What did you learn? Report on your
findings.
Sergio Gamez
Option C
In todays day in age there is many controversy on whether abortion should be an option
or illegal. A great percentage of pregnancies are unplanned, in fact each year there are 3 million
women in the united states have unplanned pregnancies (Crooks & Baur, 2014, Pg. 321). So with
that many unplanned pregnancies happening abortions come up a lot more than many people
would want to. With that being said, in 2005 some of those unwanted pregnancies resulted in 1.2
million abortions in the U.S., and an estimated 50% of women will have had an abortion by the
age of 45 (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2008).
The United States has one of the highest abortion rates in the developed world. Each year,
19 out of every 1,000 women of reproductive age have an abortion (Kaiser Family Foundation,
2008). When compared to Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, abortion rates are 66% lower
than the rate in the United States (Boonstra et al.,2006). Differences between us and other
societies is that they provide comprehensive sex education in schools and easy access to
inexpensive or free birth control and emergency contraceptives.
So it seem to me that countries that provide more education and more access to
contraceptives at lower prices tend to have less abortion rates. This is something the Untied
States needs to work in my opinion. Because recent statistics find that 53% of women who have
an abortions are age 25 or younger: 20% are younger than 19, 33% are between 20 and 25.
(Crooks & Baur, 2014, Pg. 321) . So a big percentage of abortions are coming from a young age.

So this should be a big enough issue for the United Sates to take action. These statistics could be
lower by a lot just by providing easy access to an inexpensive birth control and adding pressuring
school boards to implement more Sex Education at a younger age so the youth can be more
informed.
When preforming an abortion there are different types of procedures are used at different
stages of pregnancy. In the United States, 89% of abortions are done in the first 12 weeks of
pregnancy. A medical abortion is 99% effective in the ending pregnancies of less than 7 weeks
and 91% effective in the 8th week of pregnancy (Speroff & Fritz, 2005).

Citation sources
(Crooks, R., & Baur, K. (2014). Our sexuality (11th ed.). Redwood City)