Pro Choice

Its pro choice or no choice.

Abortion has long been a source of controversy, it is defined as the “deliberate termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to being capable of normal growth”, which to be simply put is ending a pregnancy. On one side of the debate is the pro-life stance, supporting the notion that inducing an abortion is immoral and believe it should be illegal and that under no circumstance should somebody take away the new life. On the other, the stance in which I agree with is pro choice – that each female has the right to make a decision based on what she believes is right for her. The bases of which I choose to be pro choice in regards to abortion are individual freedom, personhood, victim protection, birth control and life opportunities. You do not necessarily have to agree with what I have to say, but you do have to recognize these points of view.

Abortion in New Zealand is legal provided that they follow the rules and guidelines. Anything outside of these regulations is considered to be illegal.

•         Pregnancies under 12 weeks may be carried out in a licensed clinic; pregnancies over 12 weeks must be carried out in a licensed hospital.

When women have abortions*
Eighty-eight percent of abortions occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, 2006.

(Guttmacher,2006)

Before an abortion is performed, The Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977 states that the female will have an appointment with her own doctor or at a family planning clinic and following on from that, “her doctor will then arrange a referral to a licensed clinic for a pregnancy under 12 weeks and for a pregnancy over 12 weeks the doctor will then refer the woman to a specialist operating in a licensed hospital”. This makes the procedure as safe and secure for the female as it can be.  There are six main reasons for legally performing an abortion.

•         Serious danger to the life of Mother or the unborn child
•         Serious danger to physical health
•         Serious danger to mental health
•         Any form of incest or sexual relations with a legal guardian
•         Mental sub-normality
•         Fetal abnormality
• 
  

“Take away a women’s right to choose and shes left to take matters into her own hands”

Provided that the female has one of these reasons for an abortion to be performed - a willing licensed operating surgeon will conduct it. (The surgeon must have a certificate in order to perform the operation -(http://www.abortion.gen.nz/legal/index.html (Abortion Services in New Zealand, 2012) There are two more circumstances that are not included in the Abortion Act (1977) but will be taken into account, these are extremes of age between the partners and sexual violation. Pro life advocates argue that even if the female has fallen pregnant due to a rape it is not their choice to terminate the pregnancy as the child has done no wrong itself, it was at the fault of the Father and even sometimes the Mothers fault. No person even under the consenting age of sex can be made to have an abortion. This in turn reflects Section 44 of the CS&A Act where self-abortion is an offence - The Coat Hanger Project, a film that came out in 2008 is a documentary by Angie Young. The Coat Hanger project documents how a large number of women tried to dislodge their pregnancies by self-aborting. Inserting coat hangers, knitting needles and other lengthened objects into their uterus. The documentary shows that making abortion illegal wouldn’t stop them being performed, they would simply make them more dangerous and “pro life forces have been making it their decision to dismantle women’s reproductive freedom”. 60,000 to 80,000 women around the world die from dangerous abortions each year, which is why today we have three abortion procedures to ensure that they are done with no harm to the mother, unlike what happens when they are not available.  The three methods are-

• Vacuum aspiration.  The most common technique,  a suction tube is used through the dilated cervix to remove the foetus from the womb.
•  Dilation and Curettage. The doctor inserts a loop-shaped steel knife through the dilated cervix to scrape the wall of the uterus. This procedure is usually performed between seven and twelve weeks of pregnancy when the fetus is more developed.
• Hysterectomy. Only ever used during late term pregnancies where complications with an abortion procedure have occurred or the mother is having a miscarriage. The doctor performs a Cesarean and the baby is removed from the womb and allowed to die by neglect or killed by a direct act.

Of all the things from the 70's to make a comeback, there's one we really hate to see.

Why pro-choice

By being pro choice you are giving the individual freedom – it isn’t up to the government to tell a women if she should give birth or not, denying the access or even option to seek one amounts to this. Pro-life advocates remove even the possibility of an abortion no matter what circumstance the women is in. Pro-life supporters fail to take into account victim protection, the women that become pregnant as result of rape of incest. (Sheirer, 2013) To have already experienced this traumatic event and then have to carry, support and give birth to the child of this often results in emotional distress for the mother and makes them prone to post natal depression. Abortion is often the best way to protect the mental health of these women rather than forcing them to carry a physical reminder of the crime. Pro life supporters argue that by making abortion legal it is giving woman a way out, that they can simply rely on the procedure as a method of birth control, 76% of women who have had abortions were using some form of contraceptive method if not a combination of two, which greatly contradicts the idea that they are relying on an abortion.

By being pro choice you are simply giving each woman the option to do what is right for her, The Guttmacher Institute estimates 5,000,000 women worldwide suffer permanent or temporary injury from self-abortion. Keep abortion legal, no exceptions, and no apologies. 

Links (APA Referencing)

1.BBC. (2013). Ethics Guide, Woman’s Rights. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/

2. Guttmacher.(2013) In brief, a fact sheet. Retrieved from http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html

3. Just Facts.(2012) Abortion. Retrieved from http://www.justfacts.com/abortion.asp

4.Planned Parenthood. (2013) Abortion. Retrieved from http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/abortion-4260.asp

5. Abortion Services in New Zealand (2005) Contraception, sterilisation and abortion act 1977. Retrieved from http://www.abortion.gen.nz/legal/csaact.html

6. The Coat Hanger project (2008) The Coat Hanger Project film. Retrieved from http://thecoathangerproject.com/

7.  National Organization for Woman (2012) Woman who died from illegal and unsafe abortions, rememberance. Retrieved from http://www.now.org/issues/abortion/120904women-who-died.html