Abortion vs Adoption - Essay Example

College: Abortion vs Adoption There are widely ranging debates among the proponents and opponents of abortion in the human health sector. However, despite the arguments by either side, there are solid facts on the dangers and side effects of abortion during and after the abortion process to the mother. Though there are many debates on making abortion safe for mothers, the fact is that no abortion may be considered safe. Considering the varying degrees of effects that affect the mother after this exercise, there should be no debate on the safety of an abortion. These complications may be physical, emotional, spiritual or psychological and do usually affect a mother for the rest of their lives. For instance, statistics today show that about 10% of all mothers in induced abortions have immediate serious complications, with 2% of these complications being life threatening (Frank 177). In addition, there are many mothers who suffer from many minor complications that may involve infections, damage to the uterus, too much bleeding, hemorrhages, and serious injuries in their cervix among others. Some of the major complications that are known today include premature births. This is because in induced abortions, the cervix is opened before its time is due, which damages the cervical muscles. Consequently, depending on the degree of the damage, as the woman bear another pregnancy, the baby increases pressure at the cervix where the weakened muscles open prematurely. Moreover, the mother may suffer from sterility on the long term with 3-5% of all aborting women becoming sterile after abortions mainly due to the morbidity of the process. This is more serious when a woman may have venereal disease at the time of an abortion. The major psychological effects related to abortion are mental problems. In a study of aborting mothers in their eight week after abortion, 44% of mothers complained of having nervous disorders, 36% complained of having some serious sleep disturbances, 31% bitterly regretted of having aborted their babies and 11% were placed under psychotropic drugs by a doctor (Ashton 1117). In fact, the research noted that women who had procured an abortion had much higher chances of admission in psychiatric facilities than those who did not. Moreover, these effects are compounded by increasing guilt, and increases in the level of anxiety in the mother, though there is a short period marked by post abortion numbness of what may be termed as emotional paralysis. Teenagers are particularly affected by these post abortion complications. These effects are mostly related to the internal conflict between one’s moral standards, ethics and the decision to abort, which explains the temporary period in which the mother feels relieved. Therefore, with these abortion dangers and side effects, there is need to consider a better and healthier approach for the mother and the baby in cases where the mother may not be interested in the; consequently, pro-adoption becomes the best alternative. In the last three decades, adoption practices have considerably changed in the US; today, there are many couples across the US willing to adopt a child than bearing their own child (Berry 125). This is because today there are more career based families where both partners are in highly involving careers and lack time to undergo the normal child bearing process, mainly driven by changes in the role of women in the labor force. Moreover, there are increasing cases of infertility among many couples, which increases the number of people seeking to adopt children (Berry 125). However, there is a trend where abortion practices, birth controls and a changed impression of families towards single motherhood has drastically reduced the number of available children for adoption (Berry 125). Considering these factors, there are no reasons for women to procure an abortion when there is an increasing demand of healthy children to adopt across the US. One of the adoption practices that has gained much success today is open adoption. Open adoption refers to a case where there is sharing of information or contacts between the biological parents of a child and the adopting family (Berry 126). This is done before and after the adoption process and may continue in the entire life of the child. Thus, unlike in traditional adoption practices where the child does not know the identity of their biological parents, in open adaption, the child grows aware of his/her status and is aware of their locations. This gives the child the opportunity to know their lineage and background later in life, an approach that has received major support from professionals (Berry 126). The major benefit in this case is that the mother does not have to suffer from psychological disturbances in not knowing about the whereabouts of the child. The adoption process offers much assurance to the biological mother in knowing the history and background of the adopting family. Consequently, the mother still retains the responsibility in selecting the family that she would like to adopt her child, which translates to choosing the environment and atmosphere in which the child has to be raised in. In most cases, though the adopting parents have exclusive rights in raising the child, the biological mother through the adopting parents may keep in touch with the child as she/he grows. This case is known as fully open adoption where both the adopting and biological parents develop deep relationships with the child, though the parties have specifically defined roles and limits. In semi –open adoption on the other hand, there has to be a mediator such as a lawyer between the parents that has to be used in passing information such as letters and photos between the biological and adopting families, this means the two are not supposed to be directly in touch. According to research, adopted children will do much better in open adoption as they would understand their history and predicaments in adulthood, removing the stigma associated with such adopted children in some families. Such children will be in apposition to ask more questions about their backgrounds freely, which creates more openness between the child and the adopting family. This has over the time encouraged more pregnant women who are not ready to bring up a child to seek for open adoption instead of procuring an abortion. Open adoption will in addition make the adopting parents more secure and play their parenting role with much dedication as they have the guarantee that the biological parents have given them full rights to take care of the child, unlike in closed adoption where the adopting parents may not be sure of the position of the biological parents. This gives the child a better developing environment and creates and fosters deep assurances within the biological mothers about the safety of their child, which motivates them to prefer open adoption to abortion. Closed adoptions are considered as limiting in that biological mothers in most cases will feel isolated from the child, the mothers have unending feeling of guilt, and they blame themselves and feel uncertain of the status of their children which discourages them from preferring adoption, offering to get rid of the child instead. Research has found that the degree of success in an adoption process is greatly related to the level of openness in post-placement and subsequent adjustments after adoption. Consequently, such a process has shown a trend of reducing the level of stress among the parents involved in the addition process. The degree of satisfaction among the parties involved means the child will have a better environment to grow, which makes open adoption the best solution in preventing the side effects associated with abortion. Many factors benefit the child in open adoption, which include facilitating the child to be in touch with their mother, father, sisters and other family members, which saves the child from a painful process of looking for them later on. Moreover, open adoption protects the child from possible stigmatization in the society by removing any secrecy in the process and the process allows the child to be connected with their ancestral and cultural background. Furthermore, the child has a greater sense of belonging, which removes any feelings of abandonment like in cases of closed adoption. The child will have better understanding of their predicaments and placing and allows the child to have some self-worth and the security related to identity. Finally, It is much easier for a child to have better medical coverage as they can access their family medical backgrounds. This makes it possible for such children to deal with genetically inherited diseases. These findings are evidence based with research indicating the different effects of adopting children. In 1973, a study involving 70 adults searching for their birth parents and relatives found a high correlation between the search and low esteem among the adults (Berry 127). In addition, the research indicated that such adoptees are among the highest users of mental health drugs particularly in their adolescence due to emotional disturbances and identity conflicts. In order to prevent such cases, open adoption allows the child to grow in a healthy environment like any other child, making it the best alternative to abortion. In order to cement on the benefits of adoption and in discouraging abortion, a Senate Bill 442 that was passed recently requires mothers to have a compulsory 3- hour course for briefing before being allowed to have a legal abortion (Basset). Texas Health and Human Services Commission developed the course requiring women to have more knowledge in giving out a child in adoption rather than abortion. The need was to sensitize mothers on the benefits of adoption and the various possibilities they have in the process. The bill requires such women to take the course at least 24 hours before procuring an abortion, which gives them ample time to synthesize on the possibility of giving the child for adoption and the benefits the women will have in giving up the child in open or closed adoption. This has greatly encouraged many women to come up, greatly reducing the numbers of abortions. The bill is perceived as an alternative to restriction of abortion, a debate that resulted in passing of a bill restricting abortion after the twentieth week of gestation. Texas State also encourages women to go for ultrasounds tests and know the status of their children before considering having an abortion. This motivates such women to give the child for adoption. Abortion has numerous negative effects, which may be psychological, emotional or physical. Some of these may have permanent effects such as sterility, psychological disturbances among others. Over the time, pro-lifers have tried to convince women to give up their children for adoption instead of procuring abortions. On the other hand, there is a high demand for healthy children to adopt across the US, which discourages abortion among women, with states such as Texas requiring women considering having an abortion to undergo a 3-hour course son the benefits of adoption. Considering the benefits of adoption to both the children the biological and adopting parents and weighing these against post-abortion effects, adoption is the best consideration that women have to take. Work Cited Ashton, John. R. “The PsychoSocial Outcome of Induced Abortion.” British Journal of Ob.& Gyn., 87 (1980): 1115-1122 . Basset, Laura. “Texas Bill Would Require Women To Take Adoption Class Before Abortion.” The Huffington Post. 2013. Web. 6th Sept. 2013 Berry, Marianne. “Risks and Benefits of Open Adoption.” The Future of Children Adoption. 3.1(1993): 125-138. Frank, Peter. “Induced Abortion Operations and Their Early Sequelae.” Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 35.73 (1985): 175-180. Read More