Abortion as a social problem essays

Abortion as a social problem essays Abortion as a Social Problem Induced abortions have been a topic of dispute for hundreds of years. People disagree on two basic questions. The first question is whether the law should permit a women to have an abortion and, if so under what circumstances. The other is whether the law should protect the unborn child. Those who wish to legally limit or forbid abort ions describe their position as a right-to-life or pro-life. Those who believe a women should have the right to an abortion refer to themselves as pro-choice. An abortion is the ending of a pregnancy before birth. In the earlier stages of pregnancy, the fertilized egg that grows and develops is called an embryo. After three months of development, the embryo is now considered a fetus. What an abortion will do is cause either the fetus or embryo to die. Abortions can occur in two forms: Either a spontaneous abortion may take place, which is also known as a miscarriage. Miscarriages may result from natural causes as an abnormality in the embryo, a hormonal imbalance, a long-term disease, or some other disorder in the women. The other form is an induced abortion, which is where the fetus is purposely removed from the womens body. Physicians perform abortions several different ways. During the first trimester of pregnancy, the most common method is suction curettage, also known as vacuum aspiration. This method involves removing the fetus by suction, then scraping the womens uterus with surgical instruments. An abortion can also be caused in the first trimester by a drug called mifepristone or RU-486. The method of this drug is to block the action of the hormone progesterone in the womens body, which normally is the hormone that prepares the womens uterus to receive and nourish the embryo needs. In the second trimester, many physicians use a method called dilation and evacuation. In this method, the fetu...