Abortion is a very sensitive issue in society. There are many different perspectives related to health, morality, religion, culture, family, society, and economy. The question of whether one agrees with abortion or not will receive different answers.
Those who disagree value the life of the fetus, which has the right to be born. Those who agree value the life of the woman more than the fetus, believing it is the woman’s right to decide whether to continue the pregnancy.
Those who disagree say that abortion is not the answer and that the life of the fetus should be chosen. Those who agree argue that abortion is not destroying life and call for the removal of laws prohibiting abortion. Women, as owners of their bodies, should have the right to choose, and abortions should be safe.
Let’s listen to the real reasons from women with unplanned pregnancies, as explained by Joyce Arthur, Director of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, a country where abortion is available when a woman wants it. She explains that women with unplanned pregnancies have the right to protect themselves through abortion because…
1) Women’s rights are superior and more important than the rights of the fetus.
2) Continuing an unplanned pregnancy poses physical and mental health risks and is more dangerous than a safe abortion.
3) Giving birth to a child from an unplanned pregnancy affects a woman’s well-being throughout her life.
4) Women do not intend to destroy the fetus but must choose because the pregnancy is dangerous to their health and life.
5) No law forces anyone to donate a kidney or blood to save another’s life, so women with unplanned pregnancies should not be forced to sustain a fetus for nine months.
6) According to reproductive health rights, sex is not solely for pregnancy or childbirth. Women have the right to protect their rights through contraception to prevent pregnancy and to terminate a pregnancy when unprepared.
In 2013, Juan E. Méndez, the UN Special Rapporteur, presented a report to the United Nations meeting on the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, concluding that “ignoring the provision of legal abortion services is equivalent to torture and abuse of women.” The committee also emphasized that “restricting access to abortion, prohibiting, or sanctioning it violates the prohibition, and thus denying abortion services is unfair discrimination that burdens women because abortion is a life-saving and necessary medical treatment.”
A study in Prague, Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) since 1957 followed 220 children born to mothers with unplanned pregnancies who did not receive abortion services, comparing them with children born to mothers with planned pregnancies. It found that children born to unplanned mothers had abnormalities from grade 3, lower academic performance, abnormal psychological development, leading to early childhood problems in intellectual development, speech, motor skills, social maturity, and personality. These children did not receive basic emotional needs, resulting in continuous counseling and medical services until they grew up.
A study in the United States found that the option of post-birth adoption for unplanned pregnancies was still low. Before 1973, only 9% of unmarried women with unplanned pregnancies gave up their children for adoption, dropping to only 1% between 1989 and 1995. After that, the rate remained at only 1-2%. The main reason for the low adoption rate, despite the lack of readiness to raise a child, is that 95% of women who gave up their children felt loss and grief, with two-thirds experiencing this feeling for up to 15 years.
Therefore, it is not surprising that many desperate women continue to seek ways to terminate pregnancies, even if it endangers their lives, without the guidance of health professionals. Even if they have to travel far to find services to receive medical help, women are willing. Prohibiting or restricting legal and safe abortions will have negative effects on mothers and children.
Therefore, it is better to let women choose to become mothers when they are ready…..
With love and care, Uncle Doctor Ruangkitt Sirikanchanakul
Source: www.lovecarestation.com