Year of Examination: 2019

Subject and Unit: Communication Studies

Candidate Number: 0901000035

Candidate Name: Ann-Marie Khadoo

Title of Project: “The effects of Abortion on

Women in Guyana.”

Name of Teacher:

SBA Score awarded:

Date:
Table of Content

Acknowledgement 1

General Introduction 2

Reflective Piece-Preface 3

5, 4,3,2,1 Abort 4

Analysis 6

Conclusion 7

Bibliography 8

Appendix 9
Acknowledgement

The completion of this project cannot go without thanks. The researcher would like to
thank her parents for their constant support in obtaining working materials and references.
The researcher would also like to thank her Communication Studies teacher, Mohanie
Sudama, for guidance through the project’s duration.

1
General Introduction

This portfolio is focused on the theme, “Abortion”. The main study however is based on,
“The effects of Abortion on Women in Guyana.” This topic is a current issue that occurs all
around the world which includes Guyana.The purpose of this project is to create awareness of the
effects which abortion have on women .

This theme has significant relation to my personal interest because women over the years
were forced to have an abortion because of their predicament. It also relates to my academic
interests because I learned about abortion in Biology. In relation to work-related interests, in the
future I would like to further my studies and become a teacher, this way I could educate the
future generation about abortion. Educating the students will greatly assist them in making firm
and better decisions.

The exposition of this project is where the researcher orally outlines the main effects of
abortion on women and the reflective piece gives a short story, which is then examined in the
analysis section. The expository and reflective piece aid in diversify the researcher’s knowledge.
This enables the researcher to better elaborate on the effects of abortion on women.

2
Reflective Piece-Preface

Abortion on women is a horrific act and I believe that everyone should have a fair
opportunity in life and abortion prevents this from taking place. For this reflective piece, I have
composed a short story entitled, “5, 4,3,2,1 abort.” I have chosen this genre because I believe that
it is the most appropriate medium through which the effects of abortion can be effectively
portrayed. The purpose of this piece is to demonstrate the repercussions of this heinous act. This
piece can be used in a neighborhood women's' group, ranged from ages 18-60, as well as schools
in Guyana of ages 12-18 that are focused on highlighting the effects of abortion.
This topic can be discussed with both women and girls who passed through a similar
situation as well as the women and girls who are now becoming sexually active. This piece
would best be presented at a workshop, student issued magazines that are focusing on abortion
and at Women’s Groups so that women and young teenaged girls would be made aware of the
issue of abortions and the impact it can have on their lives. A video presentation can also be
constructed to further enhance the points being made.

3
5, 4,3,2,1 Abort

Her mother would always say with a serious face, “Child, yuh know sumday, sombody
special go make ah change in yuh life!” Gabriella always replied with a slight chuckle, “Doh
worry ma, I goh make yuh proud.” But after school closed for the summer, her period was four
weeks late. She tried to forget about it, thinking it was probably stress or poor diet and the
problem would divert. One day, with a puzzled face looking in the mirror, she softly murmured,
“I cyah be pregnant now, me life goin too good!”

One day while visiting her grandmother, she smirked at Gabriella asking with a constant
gaze, “Gabs sweetie, wha happen. How yuh putting on so much weight? Yuh pregnant or wha?”
Gabriella replied nervously looking away from her grandmother’s stare, “Granny, don’t be
crazy!” dismissing the random comment. Immediately upon returning home, Gabriella took a
pregnancy test. After waiting for some time, shaking profusely she held the test with sweating
palms and read the results. Her face turned white, it was positive. “Omg!” said Gabriella with
tears running down her cheek. Her boyfriend would be shocked, so Gabriella kept it to herself.

But, after two weeks her boyfriend dumped her for another girl despite telling him that
there was a possibility that she was pregnant. His face turned red, and he yelled in defense
remarking to her face, “I doh wah nun tuh do with you or dat baby.” A few days later,
Gabriella’s best friend went with her to the doctor. Of course, she already knew the answer. The
doctors gave her an examination and went on to tell her with a shocking look, “Ms. Williams are
you aware that you are ten weeks pregnant?” Gabriella, in a soft voice replied as tears crept
down her dimples, “Yes Dr. Basdeo, It was a terrible mistake and now I have to suffer the
consequences,” embarrassed and avoiding eye contact with the doctor, Gabriella stared blankly
at the floor in the doctor’s office. She decided to call her ex-boyfriend and tell him about the
pregnancy. He was in disbelief, but she told him it was definitely true. He explained in a harsh
tone, “Well here wha, I doh wah no baby now, so yuh better start tinkin bout having an
abortion!” Twelve weeks pregnant, Gabriella finally went to get the abortion. It was the most
painful procedure she’s ever gone through mentally and physically.

4
 The emotions that were welling up inside her were unthinkable. Something didn’t feel
right. After a short time in the recovery room, the nurse let Gabriella out the back door. On her
way home, she realized what she did. “I killed my baby,” she kept murmuring. The father of the
baby never asked if she was alright, nor how the baby was doing, so Gabriella didn’t bother
telling him, nor anyone else. A month after the abortion, she felt depressed. The support of her
friends started to make her feel better and soon she felt alive again. Gabriella also started praying
and often thought about what her life would have been like if she was a parent. She knew that
they wouldn’t be able to cope with it, not to mention that she is still in school and about to do her
Cape exams. She finally realized that abortion is not something you forget, it is something you
learn to live with. Gabriella had been trying to force herself to forget. But she’s better now. All
that remains are memories when she carried it for three months. But now Gabriella knows there
is a light at the end of the tunnel.

5
Analysis

Based on this story, it was noted that a formal register was used between Dr. Basdeo and
Gabriella. The doctor shows a professional relationship between his patient and himself. This
conversation used titles to address each other as seen when Dr. Basdeo says “Ms. Williams, Are
you aware that you are ten weeks pregnant?” Also there was a level of formality because both
Dr. Basdeo and Gabriella were meeting for the first time. Furthermore, there was also an intimate
register used between Gabriella and her grandmother and this was made possible because of the
way the grandmother called Gabriella, “Gabs sweetie” and also by asking a personal question
and this was seen when the grandmother says, “Gabs sweetie, wha happen. How yuh putting on
so much weight? Yuh pregnant or what?” This showed that the grandmother cares about her
granddaughter and the relationship between them was a close one.

Throughout this story, communicative behaviours were used by its characters to depict
certain emotions. Communicative behaviours indicated to us when the characters were nervous,
angry, sad or even regretful. An example of communicative behaviours within the passage is
gestures. The reader can tell that Gabriella was feeling a sense of nervousness when her palms
were sweating profusely and she was shaking like a leaf while awaiting the results from her
pregnancy test. Facial expressions are also an example of communicative behaviours in the story.
Gabriella’s boyfriend’s face turning red indicated his anger and frustration. Facial expressions
were also in use for example when Gabriella was crying tears down her cheeks indicated that she
was sad and in disbelief. Also the shocked look Dr. Basdeo showed Gabriella when he was
telling her the results of her pregnancy exam. Finally, by looking down at the floor in the
doctor’s office avoiding eye contact showed that Gabriella was feeling a sense of shame and
embarrassment.

Registers and Communicative Behaviours are two of the four elements which aids in the creation
of an effective analysis and added credibility to the story.

6
Conclusion

The theme, “The effects of Abortion on women in Trinidad,” has been adequately
explored. The main intention of this project was to educate women and girls thus explaining the
topic of Abortion.

By compiling this project, the researcher has developed a greater appreciation and
understanding on the involved concepts of Communication studies. The researcher sees that the
research and data can be compiled in such a way so as to communicate desired ideas. It has been
noted that the entire aspect of communication can be analysed from its fundamentals and it can
be utilizes to forge all-round strong literary arts.

7
Bibliography

Retrieved December 15th 2018, from the World Wide Web:

Baird, Robert M. and Stuart E. Rosenbaum. The Ethics of Abortion: Pro-life vs. Pro-life choice.
Buffalo. New York: Prometheus Books, 1989.

Retrieved December 17th 2018, from the World Wide Web:

http://guyanachronicle.com

Retrieved December 17th 2018, from the World Wide Web:

https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2018/11/05/

Retrieved December 19th 2018, from the World Wide Web:

https://www.womenonwaves.org/

Retrieved December 21th 2018, from the World Wide Web:

https://www.un.org

Retrieved December 27th 2018, from the World Wide Web:

https://www.usnews.com/topics/subjects/abortion

Retrieved January 29th 2018, from the World Wide Web:

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/08/29/how-canadian-abortion-policy-actually-
works_a_23510526/

Retrieved January 03th 2018, from the World Wide Web:

https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/abortion

8
APPENDIX

9
Exposition

Abortion. This is a word that leaves most people feeling uneasy after saying it out aloud.
The discussion of abortion is continuously left open-ended with millions of opinions, arguments,
and questions.

Teachers and fellow students, Namaskar. This exposition was composed by myself, Ann-
Marie Khadoo, for the purpose of discussing my research topic for my Communication Studies
Internal Assessment. The topic of my research is based on the effects of abortion on women in
Guyana. Being a Biology student, I saw this as my opportunity to do an in depth study on this
particular area.

ABORTION. It is a word that more often than not causes a fierce division amongst the
populace. Abortion is a complex issue. It is one of those issues that surfaces from time to time
and on which there has not been consensus. That is because discussions on abortion are usually
filled with emotion, as there are strong views for and against it. Religious and pro-life groups are
fiercely opposed to abortion, while Pro-choice organizations support abortions and make sure
their views and beliefs are known about it.

According to the women on waves website, abortion has been legal in Guyana for the
past 20 years but the topic is still taboo, causing many women to opt for “bottom-house style”
abortions and some private medical practitioners to not report cases when they are performed
privately. Abortion in Guyana is legal during the first eight weeks of pregnancy, but only if it is
done with the consent of the pregnant woman and by a licensed medical practitioner. However, it
is illegal after eight weeks, except in cases where it endangers a woman’s health. Abortion can
be legally performed between 12 and 16 weeks, but only if the life of the woman or fetus is in
danger.Throughout much of the 20th century, abortion was officially illegal in Guyana, but
rarely were the laws against it ever enforced.

Acoording to the World Health Organization website, in the year 2017, it was found that
67 percent of men and 82 percent of women believe that the government should not determine if

10
or when a woman should end her pregnancy, and 76 percent of men and 74 percent of women
are against any change in the law to allow the termination of pregnancy just because the woman
does not want to have a child.

Of course, this information cannot go without acknowledgement. The aim of this website
is to collect and analyze various studies about abortion around the world. I was able to derive
statistical informationfor the reports they produced. These information were authored by a group
of professors, which makes it a reliable source.
According to the NHS website, abortion is the removal of an embryo or fetus in order to
end a pregnancy before the fetus (unborn child) can live independently outside the mother.
Statistics have shown in the year 2016, there is an average of 30,000 reported cases of abortion
every year, most of which are repeat abortions as a result of the serious lack of family planning
and counselling services. Another 15,000 cases are not reported each year, which gives us the
idea that most of these abortions are done privately at home and elsewhere other than in
hospitals.

The NHS website is the UK's biggest health website with more than 43 million visits per
month. They strive to be a world-leading health information service putting people at the heart of
everything we do. The website is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
and the content, data and services on the website are commissioned by NHS England and
delivered to the people.

According to the ncbi website, most respondents to a survey of abortion patients in 2015
said that more than one factor had contributed to their decision to have an abortion.

Three-quarters said that having a baby would interfere with work, school and other
responsibilities, about two-thirds said that they could not afford to have a child and half said that
they did not want to be a single parent or had relationship problems. A multivariate analysis
showed young teenagers to be 32 percent more likely than women 18 or over to say they were
not mature enough to raise a child and 19 percent more likely to say their parents wanted them to
have an abortion. Unmarried women were 17 percent more likely than currently married women
to choose abortion to prevent others from knowing they had become pregnant. Of women who
had an abortion at 16 or more weeks' gestation, 71 percent attributed their delay to not having

11
realized they were pregnant or not having known soon enough the actual gestation of their
pregnancy. Almost half were delayed because of trouble in arranging the abortion, usually
because they needed time to raise money. One-third did not have an abortion earlier because they
were afraid to tell their partner or parents that they were pregnant. A multivariate analysis
revealed that respondents under age 18, were 39 percent more likely than older women to have
delayed because they were afraid to tell their parents or partner.

The reason why this website was reliable was because, a Board of Scientific
Counselors usually meet twice a year to review the programs and the research activities of the
Center. Thus the information would be accurate and reliable.

Abortion can emotionally affect each woman differently. Emotional and psychological
effects following abortion are more common than physicsl side effects and can range from mild
regret to more serious complications such as depression. Other psychological effects include
regret, anger, guilt, shame, sense of loneliness, loss of self-confidence, etc.

Problems with later pregnancies include: a higher risk of miscarriages and premature
births; increased risk of tubal or abdominal pregnancies etc.

Abortion can lead to underpopulationon a country, it can also lead to brain drain because
there would be less children to improve the country. It can also affect the country economically,
since there would be less income because there would be a small amount of the young generation
to take the place of the older ones.

The government should join with other institutions such as the religious organisations to
educate the population and to raise the awareness that there is a solution to the issue of abortion,
and that to abort a fetus could have long term consequences that in some cases may be difficult
to overcome. The truth is, abortion not only affects those who abort the fetus, it affects us all in
varying ways.
Also, more sexual education needs to be provided, to ensure people know the options
available to them and ways in which they can protect themselves. However, what we also need is
an updated abortion law, in which women who cannot afford to go to private institutions will be
allowed to go to public hospitals and carry out the procedure.

The message that President Obama delivered in his speech at Notre Dame was: morality
is immoral. Pro-life is the extremist position, not a moral position. Yet we should compromise
12
and work to reduce abortions. Where's the compromise between life and death - and why work to
reduce the number of them occurring if there's nothing wrong with them?

This concludes my expositary piece. Thank you and Namaskar.

13