BIBCHUR

Essay Assignment #1
Mary Angeline B. Espiritu; DFDA1

For the longest time abortion has been one of the greatest sin you could commit as a Christian. Abortion
is deliberately terminating an unborn child. I want to be more knowledgeable about abortion because
my confirmation saint name is St. Gianna who is a patron saint for the unborn children. When I read
about how St. Gianna refused an abortion despite knowing that she would die after giving birth; her
story immensely touched my heart and I empathized with all the innocent unborn children. I would like
to know why these women would choose to kill their own child that God had blessed them with when
there are more options to handle the situation. It’s mind boggling to think that women would be
aborting their baby while other women are struggling on conceiving one child. There are a series of
reasons why abortion is being practiced today and why it’s such a major issue hence why I am
passionate about learning more about this issue.

A percentage of nine is the abortion rate that is being restricted internationally. If it is necessary to save
a mother’s life it would be 11% and fourteen for hefty medical reasons. The community increases
abortion by 25% because of their conflicting comments about the topic such as the debate of pro-life
and pro-choice. For the other 39% and 2% have no data behind their choice.

In 1978 to 1979 there was about approximately 6.4 illegal abortions in India which is a terrifying
number. The legality of abortion was announced on January 22, 1973 in the United States of America. It
was approved by the law because the U.S. supreme court states that it is a women’s own privacy to have
an abortion. However, in the course of a female’s pregnancy if they are in their first trimester abortion
should be performed by a licensed doctor. In addition to that abortion would be applied if it would
affect the health of the pregnant lady when she’s in her second trimester. Lastly on the third trimester
abortion would be prohibited because of the possible human life is greater than the mother’s own
privacy.

The mother should be aware of the health risks that she will be risking before taking abortion. Although
the possibility of side effects may be low there is a chance of gaining a womb infection if it’s not being
treated properly. Pelvic Inflammatory Disease also known as PID is an infection of the uterus, fallopian
tubes, ovaries and cervix. This can cause a scar tissue if left unattended. Complications of PID is ectopic
pregnancy which hinders the zygote from implanting itself in the uterus and cause life-threatening
bleeding. Moreover, PID damages the reproductive organs when bacteria start to go into the
reproductive organs it produces pus-filled pockets in the fallopian tubes which then causes vaginal
discharge, abnormal menstrual bleeding, and abdominal pain.
On top of that there are different types of side effects after abortion. Abdominal cramps, light vaginal
bleeding, nausea and vomiting, sore breasts and fatigue are usual side effects of abortion. Alarming
symptoms such as fever, excessively heavy bleeding, strong smelling vaginal discharge and severe
abdominal pain will need to seek emergency medical care. A woman may experience a failed abortion,
uterine perforation and septic shock during and after abortion.

In society there is an ongoing debate about pro-life and pro-choice because just like every issue it has its
own advantages and disadvantages. From Wikipedia it expresses about the ongoing controversy
surrounding the moral, legal and religious status of induced abortion. Pro-choice highlights that it is a
woman’s choice to terminate a pregnancy while Pro-life talks about the right of the fetus to live. The
pros and cons made one of my friend that I interviewed confused because she understood that abortion
is a murder because it is literally killing a creation of your own however some women would not want to
raise a child because they are simply not prepared.

Advantages of abortion empowers women because it gives control over their own bodies. In a world like
today many women are victims of rape and then are also being blamed for wearing revealing clothing
instead of the rapist who was filled with lust and most likely drugs. Another one is that fetuses are
incapable of feeling pain when abortions are being performed. Additionally, the convenience of legal
professionally performed abortions reduces maternal injury and death caused by unsafe and illegal
abortions. In that women who receive abortions won’t suffer mental health problems as compared to
not being able to have abortion. This reproductive choice protects women from spending money on
their pregnancy and child expenses. Lastly overpopulation is a problem abortion is one of the ways in
controlling the number of people on earth.

Abortion has numerous drawbacks that support those who advocate for Pro-life which are that during
conception is the beginning of life, in contrast to what I mentioned earlier fetuses do in fact feel pain
especially during the abortion procedure and abortions cause psychological damage, from genesis 9:6;
In God’s eyes, life especially human life is sacred therefore abortion goes against the word of God and it
promotes to society that life is disposable Pope Francis said in January 2014 that “what is thrown away
is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as
unnecessary.”

I went in depth about this topic by asking my two friends Bee and Erin about what they think about
abortion. Firstly, Bee mentions about how abortion is dangerous to both the mother and child. She also
talked about the drawbacks of abortion which has been discussed about. Then when I asked my Erin
about this topic she talked about planned parenthood how some women are not ready to raise a child
and then brought up the issue about rape. That some women would prefer to not raise the child of their
rapist. It’s understandable because it’s probably the most traumatizing experience a woman could have.
I recently found out from class that not all abortions are unethical because there are terms like
spontaneous and indirect abortion. Spontaneous is when a miscarriage occurs and the mother has no
control over the life of the child. When a mother had health problems during pregnancy the doctors
would advise to discontinue and abort the baby. At all cost the hospital prioritizes the mother’s own life
over the baby.

Nevertheless, there are methods that can solve an issue like this. From my research I learned that
instead of fighting for dominance between pro-life and pro-choice people should focus on reducing
factors that may lead to abortion. Proper sex education that includes medically accurate information
about abstinence and contraception will educate women about the consequences of having sexual
intercourses and abortion. Insurance public funding for family planning services lowers the risks of
women taking in abortion when knowing that in case of an emergency they still have financial support.

In conclusion, I still feel like there is more to know about abortion regardless of the amount of articles
and websites I read because it’s very complex and there’s so many topics to look into. Nonetheless I
definitely have a deeper understanding and knowledge about abortion than when I commenced writing
this essay. It was an interesting process getting insights on other people’s opinion. For me I’ll always be
a pro-life no matter what because just like in the Bible life is precious and that no child is unwanted
because God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.