B Induced Abortion Print Section Induced Abortion example essay topic

Abortion, termination of pregnancy before the foetus is capable of independent life. When the expulsion from the uterus occurs after the foetus becomes viable (capable of independent life), usually at the end of six months of pregnancy, it is technically a premature birth. In the United Kingdom, when the foetus is not born alive after 24 weeks of pregnancy it is termed a still birth. II.

Types of Abortion Print section Abortion may be spontaneous or induced. Expelled foetus es weighing less than 0.5 kg (18 oz) or of less than 20 weeks' gestation are usually considered abortions. A. Spontaneous Abortion Print section It is estimated that some 25 per cent of all human pregnancies terminate spontaneously in abortion, with three out of four abortions occurring during the first three months of pregnancy. Some women apparently have a tendency to abort, and recurrent abortion decreases the probability of subsequent successful childbirth. The causes of spontaneous abortions, or miscarriages, are not clearly established. Abnormal development of the embryo or placental tissue, or both, is found in about half the cases; these abnormalities may be due to inherent faults in the germ cells or may be secondary to faulty implantation of the developing ovum or to other characteristics of the maternal environment.

Severe vitamin deficiencies have been shown to play a role in abortions in experimental animals. Hormone deficiencies have also been found in women who are subject to recurrent abortions. Spontaneous abortions may also be caused by such maternal abnormalities as acute infectious diseases, systemic diseases such as nephritis and diabetes, and severe trauma. Uterine malformations, including tumours, are responsible in some instances. The most common symptom of threatened abortion is vaginal bleeding, with or without intermittent pain.

About a quarter of all pregnant women bleed at some time during early pregnancy, however, and up to 50 per cent of these women carry the foetus to full term. Treatment for threatened abortion usually consists of bed rest. Almost continuous bed rest throughout pregnancy is required in some cases of repeated abortion; vitamin and hormone therapy may also be given. Surgical correction of uterine abnormalities may be indicated in certain of these cases.

Spontaneous abortion may result in expulsion of all or part of the contents of the uterus, or the embryo may die and be retained in the uterus for weeks or months in a so-called missed abortion. Most doctors advocate the surgical removal of any residual embryonic or placental tissue in order to avoid possible irritation or infection of the uterine lining. B. Induced Abortion Print section Induced abortion is the deliberate termination of pregnancy by removal of the foetus from the uterus. It is currently performed by any of four standard procedures, according to the period of gestation. Suction, or vacuum aspiration, is used in the first trimester (up to 12 weeks). In this procedure, which normally takes five to ten minutes on an outpatient basis, the cervix (neck of the uterus) is opened gradually with a series of dilators, and the uterine contents are withdrawn by means of a small flexible tube called a cannula, which is connected to a vacuum pump. To ensure that no fragments of tissue remain, a spoon-tipped metal instrument called a curette may then be used to scrape the uterine lining.

Introduced in China in 1958, vacuum aspiration soon replaced the traditional early-abortion procedure, dilatation and curettage, in which the curette was used to dislodge the foetus. Pregnancies in the earlier part of the second trimester may be terminated by a special suction curettage, sometimes combined with forceps, in a procedure called dilatation and evacuation. The patient may remain in the hospital overnight and may experience menstrual-type bleeding and pain After the 15th week of gestation, saline infusion or are commonly used. In this technique, a small amount of amniotic fluid is withdrawn from the uterus by means of a fine tube or hypodermic needle through the abdominal wall and is slowly replaced with a strong (about 20 per cent) salt solution. This induces uterine contractions in about 24 to 48 hours.

The foetus is then usually expelled quickly and the patient leaves the hospital about a day later. Late abortions are accomplished by hysterotomy: this is a major surgical procedure, that is similar to a Caesarean section but requiring a much smaller incision lower in the abdomen. This procedure is very rare in the United Kingdom. An alternative to these procedures is Mifegyne, a pill that blocks the hormone progesterone and is effective in the first 63 days of gestation when used with.

Mifegyne was developed in France and approved for use there in 1988 and in the UK in 1991. When performed under proper clinical conditions, first-trimester abortions are relatively simple and safe. The likelihood of complications increases with the length of gestation and includes infection, cervical injury, perforation of the uterus, and haemorrhage. Recent data, however, show that even late abortions place the patient at less risk than full-term delivery..

Regulation of Abortion Print section The practice of abortion was widespread in ancient times as a method of birth control. Later it was restricted or forbidden by most world religions, but it was not considered an offence in secular law until the 19th century. During that century, first the English parliament and then American state legislatures prohibited induced abortion to protect women from surgical procedures that were at the time unsafe, commonly stipulating a threat to the woman's life as the sole ('therapeutic') exception to the prohibition. Occasionally the exception was enlarged to include danger to the child's health as well. Legislative action in the 20th century has been aimed at permitting the termination of unwanted pregnancies for medical, social, or private reasons. Abortions at the woman's request were first allowed in post-revolutionary Russia in 1920, followed by Japan and several East European nations after World War II.

In the late 1960's liberalized abortion regulations became widespread. The impetus for the change was threefold: first, infanticide and the high maternal death rate associated with illegal abortions; second, a rapidly expanding world population; third, the growing feminist movement. By 1980 countries where abortion was permitted only to save a woman's life contained about 20 per cent of the world's population. Countries with moderately restrictive laws-abortions permitted to protect a woman's health, to end pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, to avoid genetic or congenital defects, or in response to social problems such as unmarried status or low income-contained some 40 per cent of the world's population. Abortions at the woman's request, usually with limits based on physical conditions such as duration of pregnancy, were allowed in countries with nearly 40 per cent of the world's population. In the United States, legislation followed the world trend.

Abortion is illegal in many Roman Catholic and Islamic countries, although it may be carried out in cases where the mother's life is immediately at risk. It is legal in France and Italy, but illegal throughout Ireland. In England, Wales, and Scotland abortion has, since the 1967 Abortion Act, been free on demand and is available on the National Health Service. A woman seeking an abortion has to secure the agreement of two doctors rather than just one-the only medical procedure in the United Kingdom where this is required.