Abortion is an unethical action to end a pregnancy. The United States is a liberal country and the Federal Government of the United States of America has considered Abortion as a legal, ethical, and non-conflicting action under the flag of liberalism. Currently, in many developed countries, abortion is legal but there are many developing countries where it is still not encouraged at all. Initially, it was allowed, then banned, after a period of time it was in many states legal, and in many states, it was considered illegal. Now currently abortion is allowed in all parts of the United States. All the religious and ethnic group have their own different point of view with respect to sex, pregnancies, and abortion. Some are against abortion while there are many groups that are in the favor of abortion. The United States has tried to impose both restrictions as well as liberalism on abortion but in both cases, problems were equally raised because of the diversity of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
Keywords: Abortion, United States, Government, Ethics, Pregnancy, Women
Abortion
Introduction
Abortion is one of the most important social issues in American Society. It is the pregnancy termination by the removal of the fetus before even it is viable. America is richly diverse with respect to culture and ethnicity. Many societies are practicing their faith and ethnicity. Abortion is a highly sensitive topic and everyone has a different point of view on it. American Law has a series of debates over providing the right to women for abortion or not which is relatively a new phenomenon and is just a century or fifteen decades old. Currently, in many developed countries, abortion is legal but there are many developing countries where it is still not encouraged at all. There are several impacts of abortion that directly affects society. Ethical issues with abortion are highly considered because of the sensitivity of the issue because in history, government’s single move against and towards it has made many citizens from different ethnicities in the United States highly disturbed. The United States and Great Britain have always heated politics while finalizing the laws with respect to abortion as well as handling the social issues raised in regards to it as well. The main aim of the paper is to discuss the history, social perspective, effects, and current situation of abortion with respect to social perspectives.
Discussion
Abortion is an unnatural way to stop a natural process. It has a deep history since the start of history and all over the world, there are different concepts according to it. Japanese use to keep abortion a legal activity as the ethnicity diversity is very limited. They have a concept that the life of a human starts outside the woman’s body[1]. Muslim communities don’t favor abortion at all and they consider it the killing of a life. Their belief is opposite to Japanese as they explain that life begins inside the womb. The industrial revolution and accelerated progress as well as the end of slavery caused a huge migration in the American world. Chinese, Japanese, Europeans, Muslims, South Asians and people from other nations started migrating to America in the search of a better life. This created diversity in the United States and also caused great problems for the new people.
America is highly diverse and people from all over the world with different ethnic, religious, social, and political backgrounds are living in the United States. The political structure’s complexity of the United States explains itself that it took a lot of time to come into existence and after a long period of time still there are different political and social issues that are not been solved yet. Abortion is one of the most overwhelming issues which creates aggressiveness and raises anger against the lawmaking authorities on any proper decision[2]. The law amendments raised a number of social concepts in which the most prominent ones are feminism, promiscuity, consumerism, Godlessness, permissiveness, and individualism. Ethical issues are also highlighted which would recommend better social practices. There is a strange history developed in the United States with respect to abortion specifically as a social and political issue which is discussed underneath according to American historians[3].
History
With respect to the legalization, abortion is considered a social practice whose history goes back thousands of years back. It was studied in every society. In the time when the early settlements were made in the United States, the abortion practice was legal, allowed, and not stopped. When the time came for the development of the constitution, abortion was openly advertised and was commonly performed as a social practice. In the middle of the 19th century, the states began to pass laws that included the banning of abortion and considering it illegal. There were different motivations for opposing the abortion practice and people understood very well. All of the above there was a reason which could be considered as the main and highly concerned one which included the fear that the population would be dominated by the newcomer’s children as their birth rates were higher than that of the native Anglo Saxon women.
The first law was established in 1821 in which Connecticut passed barring abortions after “quickening.” In 1860, twenty states had laws that limited abortion. From the 19th century till the start of the 20th century, surgical procedures were highly risky and hospitals and health care units were not very common. Anti9ceptics were unknown and even the most respected medical institutes with respect to their performances had only primitive medical education. The danger of surgery was very high. In 1967, for the first time color ode liberalized abortion laws. In the period 1960 to 1980, one-third of the states of the United States started to liberalize themselves in many social bounds on the community as well as cancel illegal abortion. The federal government after a long period of consideration finally develops laws that give rights to women for abortion.
On the basis of the incidents and the social problems raised with respect to abortion, courts finally established the law that the states can limit pre-viability abortions. At the start of the 21st century, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved mifepristone as a choice in caring for abortion in a very early pregnancy period. NFA won a lawsuit in 2004 against the abortion ban. Hence the history’s ups and downs in the United States with respect to abortion as a medical, social, and political issue are seen and the government has highly considered it.
Impacts
Abortion in America is a social problem in American history. There are several number of ethnic groups living together under one flag but have different points of view on a single topic[4]. Japanese have a long history of allowing abortion. Chinese have problems with abortion because of their ethnicity. Great Britain have also a long discussion from time to time on abortion. The United States has tried to impose both restrictions as well as liberalism on abortion but in both cases, problems were equally raised because of the diversity of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
Everyone has different physical and psychological impacts with respect to abortion. The women who have practiced abortion have explained after the attempt that they felt a sense of relief but others have faced mental illness. The psychological, as well as emotional side effects after the abortion, are more common than any medical complication and it affects the personality of an individual and would result to depression which is one of the most serious complications. This complication of depression is normally a severe problem in the field of gynecology when a woman loses her pregnancy.
The most common and potential side effects include anger, guilt, regret, shame, a sense of loneliness, isolation, loss of confidence, and nightmares. Also, the woman who has passed through the abortion feels relationship insecurities, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders, anxiety, insomnia, and many other social issues. The individual is unable to keep herself with the family and regular activities. The sleeping hour increases and the spouse is also ignored which is terrible for the future of the relationship. Job is also affected which may cause an inability to focus on the personnel’s finances and other things. There are cases in which women are extremely loyal to their pregnancies but due to genetic complications and fetal abnormalities, they have to do abortions which causes a series of problems that many are discussed already.
Ethical issues
Due to the modernization and improvement in the medical field, the risk of abortion is ultimately gone. The people in the United States have made outnumbered successful attempts at abortion which were in many cultures acceptable and in a number of ethnic and religious groups forbidden. Christianity is highly practiced in the United States and its ethical norms are completely conflicting with respect to abortion. There are Baptist pastors, who have claimed that killing a baby before birth is murder. Muslims also have a similar belief with a restriction on pre-marriage sex and pregnancies. There is no acceptance of an unwanted baby as well as abortion is also not allowed as it is considered as another way of killing.
The doctors mostly don’t recommend abortion unless the patient won’t have any problem with their mental or physical health regarding to pregnancies. Abortion causes long time side-effects as well as short-sided. The overall side effects include pain, cramping, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and reaction to the anesthetic and the most severe and ultimate is death. These side-effects are mostly unacceptable to the people who face abortion or the people who belong to the suffering individual. The doctors that’s why initially with good confidence, explain all the symptoms in detail and take the signatures that if the life of the patient would be gone, the responsibility would not be gone to the medical operations.
There are many organizations that are working in the favor of abortion but also they attempt to the safety of women as well. According to a number of discussions on women’s ethical rights, denying women’s right to abortion would let them suffer hardships and the blame will only go to the past and unwanted pregnancies. Women in American society have been given complete freedom. They are not bound in any case. They are free to work, take an education, and live according to their own ways.
Many social working groups have quoted freedom in every sense and they have explained that the women have right to decide whatever they would like to do with their bodies. Since American society has good gender equality, the act of abortion is set to be an example that women are free to make choices with respect to abortion, pregnancies, and their future lives. The banning of aborting creates a great risk for women to use unsafe and illegal ways to do the abortion by the illegal abortionists. The right to abortion is a mandatory part of the portfolio of pregnancy rights. They are used to enable women to freely make choices for continuing or ending their pregnancies. In America, everyone has an equal opportunity to decide what to do with their bodies. The fetus exists inside the women’s body and there is no way the government, husband, parents, or a corporation would decide what to do with it.
Current Situation
Since the law says that abortion is legal so the practice is highly increased. Almost 3700 abortions are conducted daily only inside the United States of America. The constitution even allows women to abort their pregnancies even at the time of diagnosis at the very initial stages.
There are outnumbered reasons provided by the women for abortion in which one of the most preferred is being young and unmarried because of which she would not be able to grow the kids. The relationship and career problems are also discussed for finalizing the abortion decision as there are many jobs and careers where pregnancies and marriages are not entertained at all. With respect to the health issues, the mother’s life is mostly at risk which leads to the doctors to attempt for abortion. Most the women are struggling with their lives and the sudden change in their life with respect to emotion, body physique changes, and mood swings which are sometimes unacceptable to the women and lead to the pregnancies ending, the abortion.
The quality of life is also not acceptable to the person who is holding the pregnancy and needs to abort. There is also seen a lack of confidence among both the male and female individuals and they need the pregnancy to abort so that they would enjoy their own life. In the United States, most of people are struggling with their finances and even there are outnumbered people who are living without homes under the shelters of NGOs and international aid groups. They already don’t have sustainability of their own quality of life which makes them follow the path of aborting the pregnancies.
America has accommodated and outnumbered immigrants and foreigners. Most of them are not registered. The crime rate is very high. Rape and murder are as common as homicide and robbery. The women have faced rape and forced sex which led to pregnancy and to avoid this unwanted pregnancy result of a crime, they attempt abortion. In many parts of the United States, Abortion is seen from a different point of view. Some families easily allow their members to do the abortion but some have strict rules with respect to their social standards and ethics.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, it can be concluded that women have an equal right to live their lives according to their wishes. They are not bound to do the abortion. America has a long history with regard to abortion and its legalization. Initially, it was allowed, then banned, after a period of time it was in many states legal and in many states, it was considered as illegal. Now currently abortion is allowed in all parts of the United States. Women are given the ethical right to practice their lives according to their own choices. Pregnancy and abortion are considered as an individual’s personal chore and she is not bound to behave according to some external burdens.
End Notes
- Aiken, A.R., Scott, J.G., Gomperts, R., Trussell, J., Worrell, M. and Aiken, C.E., 2016. Requests for abortion in Latin America related to concern about Zika virus exposure. New England Journal of Medicine, 375(4), pp.396-398.
- Sanger, C., 2017. About Abortion: Terminating Pregnancy in Twenty-First Century America. Harvard University Press.
- Rohlinger, D.A., 2014. Abortion politics, mass media, and social movements in America. Cambridge University Press.
- Gilens, M. and Page, B.I., 2014. Testing theories of American politics: Elites, interest groups, and average citizens. Perspectives on politics, 12(3), pp.564-581.
- Aiken, A.R., Scott, J.G., Gomperts, R., Trussell, J., Worrell, M. and Aiken, C.E., 2016. Requests for abortion in Latin America related to concern about Zika virus exposure. New England Journal of Medicine, 375(4), pp.396-398. ↑
- Sanger, C., 2017. About Abortion: Terminating Pregnancy in Twenty-First Century America. Harvard University Press. ↑
- Rohlinger, D.A., 2014. Abortion politics, mass media, and social movements in America. Cambridge University Press. ↑
- Gilens, M. and Page, B.I., 2014. Testing theories of American politics: Elites, interest groups, and average citizens. Perspectives on politics, 12(3), pp.564-581. ↑
