Introduction
Modern healthcare has enabled women patients to have the option of terminating a pregnancy for either medical or personal reasons. Socio-economic, medical, and personal factors for choosing an abortion procedure have remained identical throughout the history of medicine and healthcare. In North America – the US and Canada – abortion as a procedure, has become much more common due to existing laws that allow such a procedure for various reasons. Attitudes in the US and Canada have changed over the past century. In the US, due to the seminal ruling of the United States Supreme Court in 1973 (Roe vs. Wade) where the court affirmed a woman’s elective right to undergo the procedure, attitudes have leaned towards a pro-choice stand (Hohman & Misra, 2000, p.85). Many young Americans and Canadians of various backgrounds are of the view that abortion should be available on demand for a woman who chooses the procedure. However, various emotional, psychological, and physical effects of abortion make the procedure risky, unnecessary, and traumatic for women. Women who decline this procedure and continue with their pregnancies are at a better physical and emotional state than women who terminate their pregnancies.
Benefits of Declining Elective Abortions on Women
Avoiding Emotional Trauma
Women who willingly terminate their pregnancies experience intense regret and thus severe emotional stress after undergoing the procedure. According to Berkowitz, women who chose to abort end up regretting their choice, and this regret affects the women’s subsequent pregnancy and childbirth experiences (2009, p.25). Having herself terminated a pregnancy when she was nineteen years, Berkowitz gives a first hand account of how the termination of her pregnancy at ten weeks affected her later pregnancies and her relationship with her children (2009, p.28). Women who have terminated their pregnancies tend to feel that they do not deserve the joy of subsequent pregnancies. For Berkowitz, a subsequent pregnancy that ended prematurely made her believe God was punishing her for her previous termination (2009, p.28). Women who terminate their pregnancies are also left with a lifetime regret of feeling that they have cut short a potential life with all its infinite opportunities and capabilities. Therefore, women who decline abortion are saved the above-mentioned emotional and psychological tortures that afflict many women who terminate their pregnancies.
A Wholesome Motherhood Experience
Motherhood and its accompanying experiences underscore one of the most fulfilling roles that many women undertake in their entire lives. Raising and nurturing children are among the most valued roles for women, and an abortion inhibits a woman from experiencing motherhood freely and powerfully. According to Berkowitz, women who terminate a pregnancy are unable to commit fully to other children that they birth. The women may feel that they do not deserve the love of their children, and a sincere act such s a child refusing to suckle is perceived as the child directing hatred to the mother for her past abortion (2009, p.27). On the other hand, women who have not terminated a pregnancy are able to experience motherhood without the guilt and burden of an earlier abortion, making their experience more wholesome.
Better Relations with Spouse
Women who terminate their pregnancies have to deal with a lot of emotional regret, psychological trauma, and motherhood inhibitions, which affects their relationship with their spouses. In a sense, a woman who has never resorted to an abortion enters into her relationship with her life partner on a clean slate. She is not laden with regrets from choices in her past and thus is better able to relate with her life partner (Berkowitz, 2009, p.27). A woman who elects to terminate her pregnancy, on the other hand, experiences trauma that prevents her from having a normal and wholesome relationship with her spouse.
Avoidance of Maternal Deaths, Future Pregnancy Complications, and Other Maternal Health Concerns
The abortion procedure itself, even when performed in a safe hospital environment by qualified doctors, can result in complications that affect the health of the woman. Conditions like a perforated uterus, cervical infections, and an incompetent cervix are all complications related with abortions (McLean, 2007, p.10). Many maternal deaths are also related with previous unsafe abortions; therefore avoiding abortion keeps the woman at a more healthy state.
Un-elective Abortions
Besides elective abortions where a woman chooses to terminate a healthy pregnancy, doctors sometimes recommend abortions for fetuses diagnosed with certain debilitating or chronic illnesses. For instance, when diagnostic tests on a fetus show, the child will develop Down syndrome or has spina bifida; many doctors recommend an abortion to the mother (Punger, 2005, p.25) because, in the estimation of many doctors, such child will be unable to live a full life. However, according to Punger, this need not be the case, and such women should not choose the option of terminating the pregnancy as recommended (2005, p.26).
Benefits of Declining Abortions for Mothers with Pregnancies of Fetuses Diagnosed With Debilitating Diseases
Terminating a pregnancy is a traumatic experience for the mother, whether the fetus is deemed viable or not. Even when the fetus has been diagnosed with a debilitating condition, the decision to terminate the pregnancy weighs heavily on the mother. According to Punger, the women in such positions should opt to continue with their pregnancies because the tests performed only indicate increased risk for these diseases and are not effectively diagnostic (2005, p.26). Therefore, if they terminate pregnancies on the simple recommendation of doctors, they may well end the life of a fetus that would yet turn out healthy. For instance, the author’s son was diagnosed with spina bifida and Down syndrome, yet the child turned out healthy. Therefore, women who have these diagnostic tests during pregnancies should decline to undergo abortions due to the possibility of these tests being wrong. As Punger herself suggests, such women may forever live with the regret of never knowing whether they made the morally correct choice if they choose abortion.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that views regarding the right to have an abortion for women are becoming increasingly pro-choice, abortion remains an emotive issue in Canada and the US. The act of terminating a pregnancy can have serious emotional and physical side effects on a woman. Many women undergo what is known as Post Abortion Syndrome, a psychological condition where the regret of having undergone the procedure induces stress and suicidal thoughts on a woman (Punger, 2005, p.26). The benefits for women who decline this procedure are numerous. Besides avoiding the attendant stress and regret of terminating a healthy pregnancy, the woman experiences the joys of motherhood freely. Additionally, because the abortion procedure itself carries with it some health risks, the woman who declines to terminate her pregnancy will save herself from the health risks. Similarly, declining to abort fetuses that have been diagnosed as likely to develop conditions such as Down syndrome allows the mother to have closure on the health of her child. Because most of these diagnoses are wrong, a mother will feel emotionally at peace when she gives birth to the baby and the diagnosis turns out wrong, than aborting her child without satisfying her conscience that the child may have turned out healthy after all.
References
Berkowitz, K. (2009). Broken maternity: A sisterhood of Sorrow. International Journal of Childbirth Education, 24(3), 25-29.
Hohman, S., & Misra R. (2000). Trends in Abortion Attitudes among Young Adults: 1997-1993. American Journal of health Studies, 16(2), 85-96.
Mclean, M. (2007). MDG 5: Something We Can Work With. Midwifery Today, 10-11.
Punger, D. (2005). Screening Tests: Not Worth Triple The Trouble. Midwifery Today, 25-27.