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Running heading: ABORTION OF UNWANTED PREGNANCIES

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ABORTION OF UNWANTED PREGNANCIES

Abortion

Many women around the world end up turning to abortion to end unwanted pregnancies. These babies may or may not be viable for life outside the womb. Though abortion can occur for several reasons, the large majority of them are due to unwanted pregnancies with a lack of known alternatives. Many of these unwanted children are aborted during pregnancy, but this problem could be resolved by having better family planning supports and education for pregnant women.

Abortion is being regularly used as a way of ending unwanted pregnancies. Not all countries have laws about abortions. Some countries have gestational limits, this means that an abortion can only be done prior to a certain week in the pregnancy. For that reason, woman can choose to abort a pregnancy from the moment of conception to moments after the baby is born (Alters,2010). Even though these unwanted pregnancies may be for many reasons, abortion is being used as a method of birth control around the world (Alters, 2010). Abortion is being used in many age groups but is very high in the younger population. Research has actually shown that in the United States alone 32% of pregnancies of teens between the ages of 15 and 19 has ended in abortion (“Statistics on Teen Pregnancy in the United States”, 2011). These rates are not the same in every age group. Having education on alternatives to abortion and better education to women on ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies will be talked about for the rest of this paper.

Better educating people on alternatives to abortion will help them make other informed decisions such as adoption, birth control, or safe sex practices. Although adoption is an alternative to abortion it is not frequently used. This is for many reasons, however, “perception forms the biggest barrier to adoption today” (Olasky,2002). With the lack of education to adoption opportunities abortion has been picked over adoption. In recent years though, new laws have allowed pregnant women the ability to enter maternity homes with the use of a voucher. In these maternity homes, women can take classes on their options. This education of options has helped the alternative choice of adoption greatly. A study showed that in one of these maternity homes that has been open for 10 years, 40% of the women ended up putting their children up for adoption (Olasky, 2002). Opening these homes to women with unwanted pregnancies, free of charge, allows them to hear and learn about all of their options and seek help before making any decisions. This allows the option of adoption to be considered where before it may not have been.

Birth control and safe sex education can reduce the amount of unwanted pregnancies. Making birth control more accessible and free-of-cost to women would help reduce unwanted pregnancies and prevent the need to use abortion as a birth control option. According to research, when studying women between the ages of 18 to 19 years of age, in a 7- year span, the use of contraceptives caused the pregnancy rate to decrease (“Statistics on Teen Pregnancy in the United States”, 2011). Contraceptives such as condoms should be made available to teens and young adults at local schools, stores, and doctors’ offices. Statistics have shown that abortion rates are higher in countries where contraceptives are not easily available to men and women (Contraception, 2002). By making them more available at the above locations, there will be more accessibility, which in turn will reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortion rates. Education to the population of the ability and to these contraceptives and education on their purpose will help tremendously. This can be done with the help of doctors at well visits. With the supports in place by public location. By having access to these contraceptive resources and education provided to young people will help reduce these unwanted pregnancies, in turn reducing the amount of abortions.

By having better family planning supports and education for pregnant women, such methods will reduce the need for abortion. As we move forward, abortion rates should decrease substantially with the help of better education, access to contraceptives and access to birth control. It is imperative moving forward to insure there is proper education and these resources available to women.

References

Alters, S. M. (2010). Abortion Around the World. In Information Plus Reference

Series. Abortion: An Eternal Social and Moral Issue (2010 ed., pp. 109-125). Gale. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2133600014/GVRL?u=lincclin_spjc&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=0e781b3e

Contraception. (2002). In R. Nagel (Ed.), UXL Encyclopedia of Science (2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 562

566).UXL. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3438100188/GVRL?u=lincclin_spjc&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=6687f251

Olasky, M. (2002). Adoption Is an Alternative to Abortion and Single Parenting. In R. Espejo

(Ed.), Opposing Viewpoints. Adoption. Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from National Review, 1998, March 10) https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010104234/OVIC?u=lincclin_spjc&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=42d0c8a5

Statistics on Teen Pregnancy in the United States. (2011). In A. L. Sutton (Ed.), Health Reference

Series. Adolescent Health Sourcebook (3rd ed., pp. 220-223). Omnigraphics. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX1727600073/GVRL?u=lincclin_spjc&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=62c3a099