Hannah Cox Miss.

McKoy English 2-2 19 Nov 2013 The Reality of Abortion During the 13th century abortion after five weeks was considered murder punishable by death. (Rich 1) During the 60s and 70s many U.S states became more liberal with their abortion laws allowing abortion for rape, incest, or health reasons. New York introduced the first On Demand abortion law. (Rich 2) This means that you can abort at any time during the pregnancy. There are many reasons why a woman may choose to have an abortion about 50 percent of the time it is because of concern for the health of the woman or the fetus. (Rich 2) Abortion can have damaging effects on the mother as well as the child such as fetal pain during the procedure, complications and injuries to the patent, and depression after the procedure. Fetal pain during abortion is an issue that violates most of societys morals. Whether a fetus feels pain and at what point of gestation does it develop the ability to feel pain is the heart of the partial-abortion debate. This procedure takes 2-3 days while the cervix is gradually dilated. Once dilation takes place, the fetus is turned into the breech position, and pulled feet first from the birth canal. An incision is made at the base of the skull and the brain tissue is removed, causing the skull to collapse. The entire body is then removed. (Ballaro 1) What this is saying is they cut open the fetuss skull, remove the brain, and collapse the skull, and then they remove the fetus. This is an issue because the fetus can feel everything until it dies. You are sedated and given pain killers during the procedure but you remain awake and conscious during the abortion. (Wagner 2) As stated above the mother is sedated and will feel little to no

pain while the fetus has no sedation and feels everything. This is a problem because the mother is getting to take the easy way out while the child who has done nothing but try to live is punished. Complications and injuries to the mother during the procedure can be life threatening and occur often. The most common complications are hemorrhage, infection, cervical lacerations, future miscarriages, infertility, and studies show that it can also be linked to breast cancer. (Napolitano 1) This shows that abortion can affect the mother just as much as the fetus. Your health and wellbeing should be reason enough to not abort. Abortion can also cause issues with future children such as Preterm birth is associated with lower birth weight and higher rates of cerebral palsy, often leading to physical and mental disability also Premature birth is the leading cause of infant morbidity and mortality, and at least 10 international studies show previous abortions significantly increases that risk. (Napolitano 1) Future children you may want to have can also be affected by the abortion. They could have life threatening diseases or severe complications. Depression after abortion is a reoccurring thing a common reason seems to be guilt. A study shows 27 percent out of 830 women were diagnosed with depression after abortion. (Nafiye 2) This is a huge problem for the mother because depression can cause much greater risks such as substance abuse and in severe cases suicide. According to Coleman, up to 15% of American women who had an abortion meet the diagnostic criteria of PTSD. (Coleman 2) this is a problem because the women usually experience hyperarousal which means the traumatized persons physiology is in high gear, having been assaulted by the psychological impact of what happened it cannot reset.

Abortion causes many risks for not only the fetus but the mother as well. Such as fetal pain, complications during the procedure, and depression afterwards. The reasons stated above are horrible and painful to think about, and they can be avoided if you or a loved one chooses not to abort. Some alternatives to abortion are raising the child, adoption, or foster homes. There are many other options for the child. The child deserves a chance at life and all that it offers and you have no right to take that away from them.