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May 2, 2024

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Abortion and Who Gets to Choose NAME Grand Canyon University PHI105: 21 st Century Skills: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving PROFESSOR DATE 1
Abortion and Who Gets to Choose Abortion is a difficult topic many have issues discussing and coming to an agreement on whether it should be legal or illegal. Many believe abortion is considered a woman’s right, whereas others consider abortion ending a life. Although abortion is defined as the act of ending a pregnancy by medication and/or procedure, the argument of whether abortion should be legal or illegal stems from the belief that abortion is considered the ending of life by many medical professionals and pro-life activists, whereas others consider the risks and benefits of legalizing abortion. Abortion should be legal in the United States to ensure access to medically necessary procedures, offer options for sexual assault victims, and avoid women resorting to unsafe procedures. Medically necessary abortions and the potential risks to the mother and fetus are a small fraction of why legal abortions should be available in the United States. While identifying the risks to a pregnancy, medically necessary procedures are currently unavailable to all women when required. Often overlooked is the necessity of abortion when the risks of pregnancy and/or giving birth are said to be harmful and potentially fatal to the mother and/or fetus. In a data collection to reflect maternal morbidity rates, the State Medicaid program found the states which covered medically necessary abortions had lower maternal morbidity rates, compared to states that did not cover medically necessary abortions (Jarlenski et al., 2017). Although medically necessary abortions may be due to the deterred health of a fetus, the mother’s maternal health may be the cause for the necessity. That being said, results have shown an abortion does not affect a women’s maternal health (Jarlenski et al., 2017). While medically necessary abortions justifies the need to legalize abortion, being a victim of sexual assault equally supports the need for legal abortion. 2
Being a victim of sexual assault is a highly negative impact towards a women’s health, however, finding a pregnancy resulted from the assault is a continuation of being violated therefore being grounds for access to legal abortion. As dos Santos and da Fonseca (2022) mentioned, the access to abortion services in Brazilian hospital institutions is less than half of those listed. A study conducted in Brazil, with subjects who requested abortion services after a pregnancy, as a result of rape, supported the need for legal abortion services for those victimized by rape (dos Santos & da Fonseca, 2022). Alongside the trauma after enduring rape, a woman’s mental health is included in the health factors that may cause stress and harm to an unborn fetus. A negative result of abortions not being readily available to women, regardless if an assault occurred, is resorting to unsafe abortion methods. As abortion is not entirely legal across the nation, resorting to unsafe procedures has created a rise in complications and maternal mortality rates. These complications can present as soon as immediately or develop in the distant future. In a case report of a 32-year-old woman who presents with complications because of an unsafe abortion, the conclusion suggests the government should allow women to have access to safe and legal abortions (Nayak et al., 2014). Fortunately, in the case reported, the patient was willing to share her experience of an unsafe abortion. Unfortunately, many women resulted in obtaining an unsafe abortion and are unwilling to share their experiences due to fear of repercussions related to the abortion procedure. While maternal mortality rates are not commonly addressed in the fight to legalize abortion, the complications are more commonly under-addressed due to successful termination results (Nayak et al., 2014). In spite of all the risks to women and/or the fetus, abortions are a medical procedure that should be accessible to women in the United States. 3
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