Abortion
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abortion is a term describing a pregnancy that ends early (before 40 weeks)without the birth of a child.
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[edit] Kinds of abortions
There are two types of abortions. A spontaneous abortion is when the unborn child dies inside the womb. This is also called a miscarriage.
An induced abortion is when a person does something to end the life of the unborn child.
In both types of abortion, the fetus or embryo is usually expelled from the womb (a complete abortion). In some cases, the fetus or embryo remains inside the womb (a missed abortion) and surgery is required to remove it.
[edit] Spontaneous abortions
Spontaneous abortions (miscarriages) are common. About 15% of pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion. In many cases, the woman is not even aware she is pregnant. The pregnancy is only a few days or weeks old and the woman believes the miscarriage is just her menses. About 25% percent of all women will have a spontaneous abortion during their lives.
[edit] Cause of spontaneous abortions
The most common reason that a miscarriage happens is a chromosomal problem. When a baby is made, it gets 23 chromosomes from its mother and 23 from its father. If it does not get the right number its development happens wrong (it does not grow right.) It may have many bad birth defects (diseases a baby is born with.)
Most times a baby with a chromosome problem can never live. They die very early. There are a few chromosome problems that babies can sometimes be born with. For example, Down Syndrome happens when a baby has three chromosome #21. (Usually people have 2 of every chromosome.) This is called trisomy 21 (tri- means 3.)
[edit] Symptoms of spontaneous abortions
The most common symptom is bleeding from the vagina. This can be very little blood (less blood than a normal menses.) It can be very much blood (much more than a normal menses.)
Some women have bad pains in their low abdomen when they have a miscarriage. This is sometimes like the pain of menses. It can be much worse. Or a woman may have no pain at all. If the pregnancy is many weeks old, the woman may see the fetus when it comes out. But if it is less than 12 weeks old a woman may not see anything but blood.
[edit] Treatment of spontaneous abortions
Sometimes no treatment is needed. Sometimes doctors do a surgical abortion. This is the same kind of surgery that is done for induced abortions. Sometimes doctors give women medicines to help the miscarriage finish without needing surgery.
[edit] Induced abortions
Induced abortions are done by doctors. Usually they are done by gynaecologists (doctors who take care of only women and who know very much about female organs). In countries where abortion is not legal it is often done by people without any medical knowledge.
[edit] Kinds of induced abortions
There are two kinds of induced abortions: surgical and chemical.
Surgical induced abortions are where a doctor takes the embryo or fetus out by physical act. The kind of surgical abortion done depends on how old the fetus is. It is easier in smaller fetuses. It has less problems with smaller fetuses. So it is best to do a surgical abortion as early as possible.
Chemical abortions are where a doctor gives a woman a medicine to end the pregnancy. There are two medicines used for this. The medicines are mifepristone (RU-486) and methotrexate. These two medicines both kill the fetus. Then the abortion happens like a spontaneous abortion.
[edit] Controversy about induced abortions
Controversy is when people do not agree on something. Induced abortion is very controversial. Some people think a woman should be able to have an induced abortion if she decides that she does not want to complete her pregnancy for whatever reason. Some people think a woman should only be able to have an induced abortion if she will get very ill if she stays pregnant. (Some women have diseases that make pregnancy very dangerous, and there are rare cases of women who might die if the baby is allowed to grow and be born.) Some people think women should never be able to kill the fetus by having an abortion.
People think these different things because of morals (things you believe about what is right and wrong to do.) and human rights. People also think these things because of their religion. Some religions say induced abortion is very bad because it kills a tiny innocent human person. Some think that induced abortion is something a woman should be able to choose in order to control her life.
People who think a woman should be able to have an induced abortion sometimes say they are Pro-Choice (they think a woman should have the right to choose).
People who think the unborn baby is a person and has the right to stay alive and not be killed by abortion say they are Pro-Life (they think an unborn child has the human right to life).
Some people feel very strongly about abortion. A very small number of people have attacked or bombed the clinics (places where doctors and nurses work) and killed people who work in these places. They have done this because they view a fetus or embryo the same as a baby. They think that when a doctor performs an abortion he is killing a baby, so they kill the doctor to prevent him from killing any more babies. For example, in 1998 James Kopp shot abortion Dr. Barnett Slepian to death.
The American Medical Association approves of abortion and some people share this opinion. They think that the embryo or fetus is a part of the woman's body and is not a human person. They think a woman can kill the unborn fetus in order to control her body.
The American College of Pro-Life Physisicans considers the embryo or fetus to be a human person who deserves respect and medical care. Some people agree, and are against abortion because they feel the unborn baby has a right to live, and the woman's right to control her body is not so important that she can decide to kill the unborn fetus.
[edit] Risks and Complications
Both spontaneous and induced abortions have some risk for the woman. (Risk means chance that a bad thing may happen.)
If a bad thing happens because of a surgery or medicine that a doctor gives, or because of a miscarriage, it is called a complication. Complications of abortions can be infection, bleeding, pain. There may or may not be problems getting pregnant again; this is still being researched. In places where induced abortions are legal less than 1% of induced abortions have a bad complication. If doctors do induced abortions, the risk to the woman is less than the risk of complications of childbirth (having the baby). In places where induced abortions are legal, less women have complications of induced abortion than in places where induced abortion is illegal. This is because induced abortions that are not done by doctors have much more risks. For example, after induced abortions became legal in the United Stated in 1973, less women died from having abortions. In the United States in 2000, 11 women died from the complications of legal abortion. [1] The risk of death from a legal abortion is 1/100 of the risk of an appendectomy.[2] The risk of death from an injection (shot) of penicillin (an antibiotic) is bigger than the risk of death from a legal abortion.[3]
There can be emotional problems for the woman after a spontaneous or induced abortion. She may feel sad, angry, or guilty that she had a miscarriage or asked for an abortion. She may think she has done something wrong that made the miscarriage happen or endede the life of the fetus, or she may feel intense grief at the loss of her pregnancy or child [4] There are many places where women can get help dealing with these feelings.
Some women who have induced abortions may get criticism from friends or family who have different beliefs. When scientists look at this in research studies, however, they do not usually see that women have emotional problems after induced abortions. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan told the Surgeon General of the US to look at this question. Both president Reagan and the Surgeon General C. Everett Koop did not think abortion was right. Dr Koop looked at 250 papers that scientists wrote in scientific journals. Dr Koop said that the science we know does not show that induced abortions cause emotional problems for women who have them. [5]
[edit] The law and abortion
Induced abortion is not legal in every place. In some countries, a doctor who does an induced abortion is doing a crime. In the United States, Canada, and many countries in Europe abortion is legal (not a crime). In some countries like Ireland and Somalia it is legal only to save the life of the woman. If a woman is raped in Ireland and becomes pregnant, she cannot get an induced abortion. She must have the baby of the man who raped her. (Rape is when a person is forced to have sex.) In some countries like Chile and El Salvador it is never legal. Even if a woman will die if she keeps a pregnancy, she cannot have an induced abortion.
In countries where induced abortion is not legal many more women die from abortion. Women still get induced abortions, but they cannot get them in safe hospitals and clinics. These induced abortions have more complications than abortions done by doctors.
[edit] References
- ^ Phillip G. Stubblefield & David A. Grimes, “Septic Abortion.” NEW ENG. J. MED. 310 (1994).
- ^ Strauss L, et al. “Abortion Surveillance --- United States, 2001.” MMWR. 53(SS09) (2004).
- ^ Warren M. Hern, Abortion Practice 23‐24 (1984),citing JE Wennberg et al. “The Need for Assessing the Outcome of Common Medical Practices.” 1 Ann Rev Pub Health 291 (1980).
- ^ Nancy Felipe Russo. “Unwanted Childbearing, Abortion, and Women’s Mental Health: Research Findings, Policy Implications.” Rocky Mountain Psych. 9 (1992).
- ^ March of Dimes information about miscarriages
- ^ Letter from C. Everett Koop, Surgeon General Dep’t of Health & Human Services, to Ronald Reagan, President of the United States (Jan. 9, 1989).
