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| Abortion Ban: does it actually save lives? |
| One citizen reporter's opinion on the issue from a Latin American perspective |
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Santiago Oviedo (tikifan)  |
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Published 2009-11-11 12:32 (KST) |
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| This article is only lightly edited. It reflects the view of the author only, not OhmyNews or OhmyNews International. <Editor's Note> |
In the past few years, abortion has been a highly debated issue.
Pro-Life, a world-renowned organization that opposes abortion, states that life begins at the moment of conception, when spermatozoid and ovum unite.
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| Otherwise stated in the words of Dr. Fritz Baumgartner, ¨There is no more appropriate moment to begin calling a human ¨human¨ than the moment of fertilization.¨
Abortion, by definition, is the termination of pregnancy, whether induced or accidental.
By joining both explanations, abortion can, therefore, be termed as the ceasing of life, in other words: the killing of an unborn child.
Although the apparent rationality of these arguments has managed to convince various courts worldwide, I consider law should support righteous and justified freedom of choice for women.
The illegality of abortion does not prevent this procedure from being held.
Oppositely, clandestine abortion clinics emerge from necessity - most of them operate under precarious and insalubrious conditions that can lead to death.
According to the Health Ministry of Argentina, approximately half a million illegal abortions occur in the country, representing 40 percent of all pregnancies.
In addition, there are some women who - in desperate attempts to accomplish their will - appeal to their own methods, trying to self-induce abortion. Their lives seem at an even greater risk.
In Ecuador, for example, the practice of unsafe abortion has become the second leading cause of feminine morbidity.
In other words, outlawing abortion produces in response series of unsafe abortions at the expense of women's safety.
Criminalizing abortion not only provokes counterproductive effects, but also denotes discrimination. Taking into consideration that reproductive rights support the right not to reproduce, depriving women of the option to control their reproductive functions with abortion is a clear evidence of discrimination.
According to pro-choice groups, the implication that unborn fetuses' rights - which are unconscious and without thoughts - could equal, or are superior to women's rights diminish the recognition of women as living, breathing persons who are able to consciously make their own decision about their pregnancy.
Moreover, banning abortion allows only those with higher incomes accede to still-clandestine-but-safe interventions.
To illustrate, in the 2000 bulletin of the World Health Organization it is mentioned that there are health professionals providing this kind of procedures in urban Latin America, where abortion is outlawed. The restrictions on reproductive decisions disfavor women in general, and specifically those with lower economic resources.
Moreover, prohibiting this practice supposes treating indiscriminately all cases the same.
There are certain scenarios where the outcome of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies can be more problematic and harmful to both individuals (mother and child) than aborting a fetus. As evidence of this, Cuban government legalized abortion in case of risk to a woman’s health - defining health as a complete state of well-being.
In Latin America, as a consequence of lack of family planning, sex education, and so forth, pregnancies at extremely early ages are quite common. As a result, there are twelve-year old mothers incapable of raising a child - their sexual capability of reproducing does not mean they are ready to be a mother in the world today. In addition, economic resources play a big role on this decision; single poor young mothers sometimes prefer to give their children in adoption.
Summarizing, banning abortion presumes all pregnancies work under ideal conditions when it is not the case.
On the whole, although I agree with some of the points stated by those who are against legalizing abortion, I believe that criminalizing it only creates more complications, and that the decision to abort should only lie in the hands of the woman who carries the fetus in her womb.
Banning abortion indirectly endangers women's health, since the intervention is still carried out by untrained abortion providers under unfavorable conditions. Restricting women from taking their own decisions regarding their pregnancy evokes discrimination. And in some situations, abortion can mean less harm to mother and child than a life stigmatized by an unwanted and unplanned pregnancy.
From my standpoint, abortion should be the last resource to cease an unwanted pregnancy; however, it is essential to withdraw the legal policies that criminalize it in order to avoid all the problems discussed above.
I believe abortion has become a matter of good public health and governments should treat family planning and contraception methods campaigns as a priority.
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©2009 OhmyNews
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