Abortion

INTRODUCTION

In South Australia in 2003, there were 5214 abortions . This means that in one year, there

were 5214 women that fell pregnant and chose to have their child terminated. This could

have been for medical reasons; such as the mother and/ or her baby's life was in danger,

and so continuing with the pregnancy meant risking both of their lives; or it could have

been for non-medical reasons. These could be for reasons such as a lack of financial

support, the mother's age (too young or too old), lack of emotional support (not ready to

have a baby), or she may have felt pressured from someone else into not having the baby.

Whether or not legislation in South Australia needs to be passed restricting the current

practice of Ð''abortion on demand' is a controversial topic that is currently being debated

all over the state.

For this assignment I will be investigating this issue, and deciding for myself whether or

not I think that the South Australian legislation needs to be changed. I will do this by

answering three focus questions, using information collected from surveys and articles.

I chose to investigate this topic because I think that the abortion issue is so important, and

it affects so many people. I also think that the moral and ethical questions that are raised

by abortion (in particular Ð''abortion on demand') tends to confuse people, and leave them

unsure of their personal opinion. This is why I chose to do this investigation topic; to try

and answer some of these questions for myself and figure out my personal opinion on the

issue.

BODY

1. What groups support or oppose Ð''abortion on demand'?

Supporting or opposing abortion on demand is something that many people are unsure about. I

think that this is why there are groups that are adamant that what they believe is correct, because

they have thought about the issue thoroughly and have come to a conclusion. I think that many of

these groups are also so determined for people to hear their point of view because they know that

there are still a number of people that are yet to make up their mind on the issue.

Groups such as Right to Life are firm believers in anti-abortion, and believe that any legislation that

would be brought in to help curb abortions would be beneficial. They view the fetus as a person,

with just as many rights as the women bearing the child, and so therefore they see abortion as

murder.

The other main supporters of anti-abortion legislation are religious groups. People who have a firm

belief in God also tend to have a firm belief against abortion.

There are however other people who are not necessarily apart of a group, but who just don't

support abortion on demand. This could be from personal experience, or simply because they

believe that people should have to face the consequences and take responsibility for their actions.

According to my survey results (Appendix 2), it showed that out of 13 females surveyed, only one

said that did not support abortion for non-medical reasons, while 1 was undecided, the other 11

women said that they supported both abortion for medical and for non-medical reasons. I think that

this would true for most of Australia, while there are a few women who oppose it, generally most

women support abortion on demand, whether they are married and have children or not, it doesn't

matter that much because women are able to put themselves in that position and ask themselves

what they would do.

2. Under what circumstances (if any) do people oppose abortion?

People have reservations about abortions, as they aren't really sure about it. I think that the main

objection that people have about abortion is the time frame (trimester) in which it is going to occur.

In the survey results, the answers to the question regarding this were definitely the most varied and

spread out, with most people having a different stage at which they thought should be the cut off

stage (see graph below).

I think that most people would have their ideas of how long it is before an abortion is no longer

acceptable, and so I think that this would be one of the main things that people would object to

(having an abortion later than what they view as acceptable).

My survey also showed that people oppose abortion if there aren't any medical reasons for the

termination.

I