Abortion refers to termination of pregnancy through the expulsion of the embryo or fetus from the uterus resulting to its death (Boonin, 2003). It may occur spontaneously as a result a complication during pregnancy “miscarriage” or may be induced through other means by use of drugs by a specialist.
Practicing unsafe abortion has led to the death of approximately 70,000 women globally and almost 5million disabilities recorded yearly (James, 1998).
In order to minimize the tragedies resulting from unsafe abortion, the parties such as the woman should access therapeutic advice from a special doctor before carrying out the activity (Zastrow, 2005).
Several groups such as religious ,civil society and governments consider the act of abortion as illegal since it denies the fetus its right to life and therefore calls for the enactment of laws to regulate the relationship between the mother and the fetus (Zastrow, 2005).However, some countries such as United States of America enacted laws to legalize abortion and calls for its implementation by a specialist (James, 1998).
Due to serious impacts to the society, physicians have ethical principles to carry out abortion under the following circumstances stated by the law governing a country and for the societal benefits(Zastrow, 2005).
To start with, the physician may conduct abortion to protect the mother’s life especially when endanger due to diseases such as kidney, hypertension and severe diabetes among others (James, 1998).The diseases may threaten the life of the mother and may result to her death if the doctor fails to intervene the woman must be consulted before the action is executed.
In addition, termination could done to protect the woman from permanent injury that may further lead to mental or physical health of the woman (Zastrow, 2005).The mental problems could result from the woman’s emotional attachment to the pregnancy as well as conservative views in regard to the societal perspective on abortion thus making the woman develop low self esteem .
Protecting mothers life is based on the premise that “a woman is more than a fetus” which has however been rejected by religious and philosophical groups that recognize fetus as living human being with rights similar to others (Zastrow, 2005).
Similarly, the society permits physicians to perform abortion due to uncontrolled number of women going for it through hidden ways. The laws prohibiting abortion fail to apply especially when a woman feels it’s absolutely necessary making the go for abortion conducted without medical care and under dangerous conditions exposing them to more harmful conditions (James, 1998).
This was proved in United States two decades before its legalization in which almost one million women had participated in illegal abortion leading to the death of many of thousands of them (Zastrow, 2005).
In addition, the physician has a legal principle to conduct abortion if there is a reasonable risk in the life of the fetus likely to result into serious physical or mental handicaps (Boonin, 2003).
The problems could result from health complications developed while the fetus is still in the womb giving the physician an ethical principle to protect the fetus from future frustrations through abortion (Boonin, 2003).
Moreover, it is ethical for a physician to perform abortion in order to reduce the number of young girls who might be forced to become parents at lower age such as before fourteen years when most of them are not capable of taking care of the children since they lack required resources since most of them are school-going and jobless hence incapable of raising families in hopelessness and dependency(James, 1998).
Lastly, it is ethical for a physician to carry out abortion incase the woman is impregnated through rape or forceful intercourse resulting to unwanted pregnancy (Boonin, 2003).In this case the woman is exempted from protecting pregnancy that might result into painful memories after the birth of the child.
In addition, since the society does not care for the unloved, brutalized and abandoned these children are exposed to rejection when they grow up, making them develop brutal behaviors against others in the society (James, 1998).
In conclusion, several groups, societies, scholars and even philosophers have argued condemning abortion as an act that denies fetus its right to life (Zastrow, 2005).
They claim life begins at conception hence even fetus should be protected against any activity likely to terminate this right. However, due to continued world catastrophes, the society permits physicians to conduct safe abortion that would safeguard the life of the mother which could be at risk due to the presence of the fetus (Boonin, 2003).
Reference List
Boonin .D. (2003).Safe abortion: technical and policy guidance for health systems .New York: St. Martin’s Publishers.
James, R. (1998).Abortion: statutes, policies, and public attitudes the worldover.LosAngeles: Prentice Hall.
Zastrow.C. (2005).Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment .New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.