Some Abortions are Immoral and Some are Moral - Essay Example

The debate on 'Why would a mother choose to end her own child's life' is never ending. There are various moral, ethical, health and legal issues involved. Abortion not only effects mother and her baby but also the rest of the family members: father, siblings of baby, grandparents, friends and everyone else involved in the process. 1. Measure of birth control: 98% of abortions result as a measure of birth control. It is the leading cause of death in America. Since no birth control method is 100% effective, women opt for a termination in case of an unplanned pregnancy ("Abortion 101,"n.d.). 2. Teenage Pregnancy: One of the major reasons of teenage pregnancy is unawareness.

Most of these pregnancies are unintended resulting from unsafe sex. Teens choose abortion as they are not prepared to become parents at such an early age of life. In 1999, over 148,000 teenage pregnancies ended in abortion. Most of the abortions are performed without the consent and knowledge of parents. The best measure to prevent the teenage pregnancy is the education about safe sex and support of parents (Alford, 2003). 3. Rape and incest: Rape and incest victims account for 1% of the abortion cases ("Abortion 101,"n.d.).

Abortion is often seen as a solution to the problem. But it can have serious long lasting effects on the mother such as depression, guilt, anger, loneliness. (Reardon, 1994). 4. Single parenting: In many cases, woman's partner may not support her in pregnancy and wants to go ahead with the abortion. This leaves mother in dilemma to choose birth or abortion. Understanding the problems faced by single mothers in the society, mother may opt for an abortion ("Why Do Women Have Abortions," 2006).5.

Financial issues: Some mothers consider that they are not financially sound to support their child after birth. This situation may lead to inadequacy of indispensable resources in upbringing of the child. The future and security of both the mother and the child are at risk. Most of the times this situation is due to single parenting ("Why Do Women Have Abortions," 2006). 6. Pregnancy due to a dishonest premarital or extramarital relationship: Pregnancy resulting from an illicit relation may ruin a women's family and social life.

It may have serious impact on other family members such as her husband, other children, in laws and friends. 7. Pregnancy as a hurdle in education and career: College age women form the major abortion carrying group. Pregnancy is seen as hurdle in realizing their dreams. 8. Gender selection: It is also a major cause of abortions, especially in Asian countries like India and China. Families who do not have enough funds to raise and educate many children, opt for sons who will eventually earn for the family in future and abort girl child with the fear of raising her to be married into someone's else's home. 9. Domestic violence issues: Women subjected to domestic violence in their families do not want to give birth and raise their babies in such an environment and choose an abortion over birth. 10. Birth defects detected in the babies: If the medical tests detect birth defects in the babies, mothers can opt