Teenage Abortion Being Illegal Without Parental Consent example essay topic

Teenage abortion has become a complicated issue in today's time. The decision we are faced with is "Who Chooses", the parent or their pregnant teenage daughter. Most parents are informed and support their daughter's decision whatever that decision might be. There are a few teenage girls who do not inform their parents they are pregnant and want to have an abortion. Instead they have illegal abortions or travel out of state to have an abortion done because it is illegal in their home state. Teenage abortion is on the increase; it is a never-ending battle that poses a legal, medical, social and moral dilemma.

Many legal battles have been fought in the United States over the issue of abortion. Merz states that the earliest American law on abortion was based on the British common law. In addition, Merz says until 1803 the British common law did not view abortion as a crime if it was performed before the fetus "quickened". Since a fetus is not yet a baby, does the unborn child have the capacity to feel pain? Doctors today know that unborn children can feel a touch within the womb and that they respond to pain (Reagan 31). In the 1800 time period abortions were legal but in the 1900's they became illegal in the United States.

Merz reveals that in 1973 the Supreme Court, in the Roe vs. Wade case decreed that a constitutional "right to privacy" gave women the right to choose. On the other hand, American Medical Associates in 1970 affirmed abortion was a medical procedure and was to be performed on grounds of "sound clinical judgment" (Burtchaell 61). The Allan Gullmacher Institution reports that in the United States about half of the states have enacted laws requiring minors seeking abortion to have parental consent. Abortion is induced termination of pregnancy before the embryo or fetus is able to survive on its own.

According to Merz, there are several abortion methods: induced abortion is the most commonly used method. Merz explains additional methods which include vacuum aspiration, dilation and curettage, and drug based abortion. Drug based abortion consists of the morning after pill and misoprostol. Some abortion methods cause serious complications in women but more so in teenagers.

Such complications are hemorrhaging, uterine rupture, cervical lacerations, and endo metritis. Incomplete operation, where the abortion process is not preformed properly, can result in death. Bender states, "Of the 1.5 million abortions performed in the United States annually, nearly one-third are on minors, many without parental consent or even knowledge". According to Ills ley and Hall, it is estimated that less than two percent of abortions were performed for maternal health reasons (Burtchaell 62).

On the other hand, in the 1980's teenage abortions remained in the low forties per 1,000 females of the age fifteen to nineteen. The number of teenage abortions in the early 1900's were forty per 1,000 females of the age fifteen to nineteen, thirty-eight in 1991, and thirty-six in 1992. Furthermore, Allan Gullmacher Institution reports that of the total number of births in the United States thirteen percent are from teens. The United States has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies than any other country. Statistics show that unmarried teenage girls fifteen to nineteen years of age in the 1950's had an estimated number of rate of 56,000 births. In 1970,190,000 births were reported.

Additionally, in 1990 there were 350,000 to 361,000 births including girls under age fifteen. About thirty percent of teenage girls choose to have abortions rather than give birth to a child. Abortion is a moral, not a medical problem, according to psychiatrist Thomas Szaszo (Burtchaell 67). Anti-abortion alist say immature teenagers who made decisions to have abortions have suffered serious medical problems. Scientific research has successfully shown that abortion causes many psychological side effects. They feel sadness, wishing things could have been different for a lost life.

Some sleep habits change after an abortion because of nightmares that may occur at night. Nightmares like a crying baby that cannot be found. Feelings of emptiness may also be a result of abortion. Guilt arises because they know a fetus represents an independent life.

Sometimes that mother may feel that she has in fact abandoned her child. All she can feel is ashamed and embarrassed about her actions. Although many believe that abortion is a women's choice, abortion should be banned except when the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother or is the result of rape or incest because it is immoral. Abortion is the unnatural end of pregnancy.

Abortion is murder because life begins at conception. One cannot kill another human being just because they wished it was not around or it that it maybe inconvenient. It has been proven that the fetus is a real person. It responds to noise, has feelings and fears. To have an abortion is destroying an innocent life which is the same as murder. Is the decision of abortion up to the parents or their teenage daughter?

I personally believe abortion is wrong and is definitely not a decision a teenager should make without parental guidance. A child's privacy is not absolute. Parents once had authority over their children, but today there is conflict between the authority of the parent and their child. If I were a parent of a pregnant teen I would want to have my daughter discuss her pregnancy with me, and allow me to assist in her decision.

There are many factors to be considered when making a decision about abortion. A teenager is not aware of all the possible long-term complications that can result from an abortion. Furthermore, abortion is taking a life away from an innocent unborn child. Every fetus should have the right to grow and have life. Parents should know if their daughter is pregnant and help them decide whether they should have an abortion. Whether or not they want their parents to be informed should not be left up to them.

Most teenagers, but not all are unable to make proper decisions concerning their health. Adolescent teenagers are not mature enough to take full responsibility for their actions. We all make mistakes at some point in our lives and some handle their mistakes better than others. Instead of having a baby and giving the child up for adoption they end its life by abortion so they do not frustrate their own life. What these young mothers are not thinking about is that they are ruining an innocent pre-born baby's life. In my opinion if a rape victim or a mother in a life-threatening situation wants to have an abortion, I think they should have that right.

I believe this is the only time an abortion should be considered. Using Abortion as birth control is wrong. With a teenage abortion being illegal without parental consent in most states, teenagers will go to an illegal clinic for the procedure. These scared teenagers do not realize that what they are doing could be dangerous: risking their lives is the result of their actions.

Abortions have many complications when not performed correctly. Complications such as hemorrhaging that could lead to death or damage to the reproductive organs which may cause a female to be unable to produce children later in life. In conclusion, the controversy ver abortion will always be a never-ending battle. It has joined race and war as one of the most debatable subjects in the United States. It discusses human interactions where ethics, emotions and law come together. Abortion poses a moral, social and medical dilemma.

There are many points of view toward abortion especially where parental consent is concerned. The question will always remain "Who Chooses". Who knows at what point or age a person is capable of making such a complicated and moral decision as abortion. We all have our own views on what is right and what is wrong. Abortion can be justified by a woman's right to chose, but it should be banned because it is immoral and life begins at conception. Women have been given the right to have an abortion under the united states constitution, but this right is still being protested by the people that fight for the unborn children's rights.

Pro-life activists claim that it is immoral because it is simply defined as murder. Life begins at conception is another strong point brought up by Pro-life activists. Before birth the childs heart beats, the gastric juices flow in the stomach, and all its necessary organs have been made present. This is a child that thinks, dreams, and feels pain. Yes, some women may look at having an abortion to solve her personal problems, but in all, women are abandoning abortion because it weakens their great strengths: creation, compassion, and ability to choose. Maybe soon the abortion issue will reverse and people will see the rights of the unborn as greater in importance than that of a personal right.