Pro-Fairness

Abortion, one of the most controversial ongoing issues, has become common in the United States. There are two opposing views on abortion; one being pro-life, those who believe abortion is wrong, and pro-choice, people who believe that women have the right to choose to have an abortion. There are a lot of reasons to defend the legalization of abortion and the right to an abortion should never be taken away. By understanding the medical information and perspectives on abortion, pro-life supporters will realize that pro-choice is the only fair stance.

First of all, abortion is a method to terminate a pregnancy by using medicine or surgery to remove the fetus from the uterus. It has been a part of human culture for a long time. In the United States, the issue of abortion is extremely controversial that matters to not only medical field but also political and social fields. Pro-life advocates think that life begins at conception, so the fetus is entitled to have a full human right to live; abortion is a crime of murder; women should use contraceptives in the means of preventing pregnancies; and abortion increases the likelihood of future side-effects. On the other hand, pro-choice advocates argue that it is a women’s right to control their own bodies; abortion does not kill a baby, but just ends a pregnancy; and modern abortion is safe because it is performed by professions in a safe setting. These two sides have argued over the issue for quite a while. However, again, viewing abortion in terms of medical perspectives is vital to understand the correct side of the issue.

Pro-life advocates argue about the moral status of the fetus but the beginning of human life cannot be determined and is beyond the knowledge of medicine. The fetus within 12 weeks is not fully developed, so arguing about the fetus’s moral fetus is somewhat unreasonable and unnecessary. According to Elizabeth Harman, “inaccessible facts determine a fetus’s moral status. We can’t ever know how to treat an early fetus, because we can’t be sure of its moral status.” (Harman). Pro-life believers think that abortions are wrong because the fetuses feels pain during abortion . But “there is no evidence that brain and neurological system are developed enough even at twenty-four weeks for the fetus to experience pain” (Rosenfield). Arguing about something that has not been proven is an invalid contribution to the arguments to ban abortions.

Abortions may occur naturally or be performed artificially. Natural abortion that occurs within the first twenty weeks is called a miscarriage and after twenty weeks is called a stillbirth. Many people think that abortions are performed in an unsafe setting with potential long-term complications, but abortions are actually performed by professionals and have few complications if it is performed within twelve weeks of pregnancy. The types of surgical abortion procedures are varied on the stage of pregnancy. It is usually divided by trimester. In the United States, about 90% of abortions are done during the first 12 weeks of the period (first trimester) because it is the safest time to have an abortion. The most common abortion procedure during that period is suction curettage (vacuum aspiration), in which the contents of the uterus are suctioned out through a plastic tube inserted through the cervix. Then, curettage is performed to make sure that all fetal tissue is removed. Other procedures performed in the first trimester are Methotrexate & Misoprostol (MTX) and Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA). MTX is used up to the first 7 weeks of pregnancy but not usually used in the U.S. MVA is a procedure used during 3-12 weeks since the last period and is considered to be less dangerous. At 12 to 20 weeks of pregnancy (second trimester), the most common abortion method is dilation and evacuation, which is 97-99% effective. The cervix is dilated slowly “using sponge-like materials that expand as they absorb local cervical fluids” (Rosenfield). And the uterine content is removed by using forceps in conjunction with vacuum aspiration. The other abortion method that is commonly used in the second trimester is called instillation abortion. The fetus dies because of saline solutions that are implanted into the amniotic cavity through the stomach. Another type of abortion, medical abortion (nonsurgical abortion) involves taking medications (RU-486, which blocks progesterone (essential hormone in the early stages of pregnancy), which is safe and 90-97% effective. The drug is used with a prostaglandin, which makes uterine contractions and removal of the uterine contents. Then the mother needs to take a second medicine, misoprostol. It causes the uterus to empty. In addition, legal and professionally performed abortion is safe. With the increased number of residency programs providing training in abortion procedures, abortion in the United States is provided by more obstetrician-gynecologists (Rosenfield). Those physicians are intended to offer the safest procedures for the woman as well as the fetus. RU-486 is distributed only to physicians who can diagnose the duration of pregnancy accurately and has specific treatment, which makes it safer. If abortion is illegal, people are going to imitate RU-486 and make unsafe abortion pills themselves, resulting in further and much more dangerous outcome. Those who are pro-life are trying to take away women’s safety by making abortion illegal.

Also, complications of abortion rarely occur. And even when they occur, they are not usually serious. General anesthesia may occur, however, it is considered as an unnecessary additional risk. Prophylactic antibiotics may be prescribed, but infection hardly occurs. “Medical evidence has consistently shown that a woman who has one properly performed induced abortion is the first trimester of pregnancy has the same change of a normal outcome of a subsequent pregnancy as a woman who has never had an abortion.” (Rosenfield). In addition to minimal complications, “The risk of death from complications is less than 0.6 in 100,000 procedures, whereas the risk of women dying from giving birth is 13.3 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies” (Abortion). It is getting less and less than in the early 1970s, when the complication rate was more than 4 per 100,000. Both psychological complications and physical complications relate to the type of the procedure and the pregnancy age of abortion. Earlier abortion results fewer complications than later procedures. In addition, there is no postabortion syndrome (a negative emotional or physical response to abortion) that meets the American Psychiatrist Association’s definition of trauma (Rosenfield). A study from the University of California, San Francisco found that the majority of women who had an abortion felt that they made the right decision. 90% of them felt relief a week after the abortion, and 80% of them who reported