The Ethics of Abortion

"A person who actually procures an abortion incurs automatic excommunication" (Canon 1398).

Women around the globe cite for abortion practices to terminate unplanned or unwanted pregnancies.
Abortion is deliberate removal (or deliberate action to cause the expulsion) of a fetus from the womb of a
human female, at the request of or through the agency of the mother, so as in fact to result in the death of
the fetus. Abortion can be of purposely intended or of circumstances occurring without realization and
beyond control. During 2010–2014, an estimated number of 56 million induced abortions occurred each
year worldwide. This number represents an increase from 50 million annually during 1990–1994, mainly
because of population growth. According to the Roman Catholic Church, deliberately causing an abortion
is a grave moral wrong. It bases this doctrine on natural law and on the written word of God.

Abortion is done in many different ways for many reasons. There are number of reasons why women
have abortion over the years up until today. Abortion is done due to circumstances or situation that goes
beyond the control of women. Some reasons however, goes against the bible principles, customary acts,
and it is not accepted within certain societies. Stated in Exodus 20:14, “Thou shall not commit adultery”
for adultery is a sin and those women who become pregnant outside of marriage, they are committing
adultery and when they abort, they are also committing murder as stated in Exodus 20:13

Given cases of statistical reports, these are some of the reasons why people feel the need to having an
abortion;
 Married women feel they “just can’t cope” with having another child because of the family’s
financial position,
 Women who feel the same way of not being able to manage because of their physical or mental
health difficulties,
 Married women who are motivated by social consideration to want to limit their family to a
certain size, but find themselves pregnant despite their intention to avoid another child,
 Being ashamed of their husband, friends or family from finding out that they are pregnant,
 Married or single women who base requests for abortion on personal ideology that a woman has
absolute right over her body,
 Unmarried teenage girls who become pregnant,
 Other unmarried women who become pregnant because of their established sexual habit of sex
outside of marriage,
 Mothers who fear the birth of a deformed child,
 Women who regard abortion as an ordinary form of contraception,
 Women who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest.

The top three most common reasons to why women cite for abortion are; negative impact on the mother's
life, financial instability, and relationship problems or unwillingness to be a single mother. According to
these, most women who do not want to have an unplanned pregnancy are subjective towards practicing
abortion. The pregnancies may happen at the wrong place at the wrong time as of young teenagers who
are still studying and are to be faced with this situation. Bearing the responsibility of having a child and
completing education is a challenge, and so the teens are faced with difficult decisions of whether to keep
or to do away with the pregnancy. Financial status of unemployment and not being able to cater for
expenses of having a child are also a factor causing women to do abortion. Influences of the
family, religion, and the societies in which people belong to also coordinates in the practice. In
such cases of parents or relatives of the victim not wanting their daughter or son to be a father or
mother, or for the moral thinking of one’s society of bringing disgrace and shame to their family
or community, they tend to enforce such action of ending the pregnancy.

There are two types of abortion, spontaneous and induced abortions. An abortion may be caused
purposely and is then called an induced abortion, or less frequently, "induced miscarriage". Spontaneous
abortion, also known as miscarriage is unintentionally when an expulsion of fetus occurs before the 24 th
week of gestation. This however, is not intended fatality that occurs during pregnancy. Induced abortion
on the other hand is committed with the mother’s aid with knowing the outcome of the action. Common
causes of spontaneous abortions is the chromosomal abnormalities of the embryo or fetus during the first
trimester which is the first eight weeks of gestation. Other causes include vascular diseases such as lupus,
diabetes, other hormonal problems, infection, and abnormalities of the uterus.  Accidental trauma,
intentional trauma or stress to cause miscarriage is considered induced abortion or feticide. Abortions that
are induced depending on the gestational age of the embryo or fetus. The abortion is typically
characterized as either therapeutic or elective. Therapeutic medically involves saving the life of the
pregnant women and terminating the unborn child were as elective is performed upon the request of the
women for non-medical reasons.

There are five commonly used methods in performing an abortion. The suction method is done by first
paralyzing the cervical muscle ring (womb opening), then stretch it open. The doctor or nurse then inserts
a hollow plastic tube with a knife-like edge on the tip, into the uterus. The suction tears the fetus or baby
into pieces and then placenta is cut from the inner walls of the uterus. The scraps are then sucked out into
a bottle. The second method is dilation and curettage which is similar to the suction type but the knife
used is a curette, which is looped shape steel knife and the placenta is cut into pieces and are scrapped out
into a basin. The third method is the saline or salt poisoning method is done after the 16 th week of
gestation. A large needle is inserted through the abdominal wall of the patient and into the baby’s
amniotic sac. A concentrated salt solution is injected into the amniotic fluid. The fetus is poisoned when it
breaths the salt, swallows it and takes about an hour of struggling before it dies. If successful, the mother
goes into labor about a day later and dilates a dead baby. The fourth method is called a prostaglandin
abortion. This is done by taking the drug Prostin F2 alpha. The drug will cause labor regardless of
whatever stage of gestation the patient is in. It is usually taken during the early stages of gestation which
can cause the dilatation of a fetus that not yet viable. If taken at a later stage the baby can live if it
survives labor. The last commonly used method is a hysterotomy which is when the mother’s abdomen is
surgically open, as is her uterus and the baby is then lifted out with the placenta.

Abortion is an inconceivable act, but for others, abortion seems to be the only way out of an unplanned
pregnancy and an impossible-to-negotiate future. Moral Christianity beliefs does not coincides with
having to abort pregnancies. As stated in Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth
and subdue it”. The sanctity of life is the belief that all life is sacred, important, a gift from God, and
should be protected and also respected at all times; this belief of the sanctity of life is triggered by content
of the Bible, this is Genesis 1:27 “To the image of God he created him, male and female he created them”
which show’s that we were all made in the image of God, therefore we shouldn’t ever even consider
abortion. Another quote from the Bible shows a reason not to abort; this quote is “Do you not know that
you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” – 1 Corinthians 3:16, this quote is
interpreted in the way that in killing, or even disrespecting life, you’re destroying God’s temple.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gaskilld/ethics/abortion.htm
https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-worldwide
https://www.thoughtco.com/why-women-choose-abortion-3534155
https://www.slideshare.net/06clared/abortion-essay-ethics?from_action=save