What do you consider to be the Strengths and Weaknesses of the British Approach to the Regulation of Abortion? Abortion is a procedure carried out to terminate a pregnancy. In 1967, liberal Member of Parliament David Steel introduced the Abortion Act. This legally permitted abortion to be carried out by a medical practitioner in England, Scotland and Wales (Glennerster 2000). Since the implementation of this policy, numbers of abortion have gradually increased. In 2010 almost two hundred thousand procedures were carried out in England and Wales, ninety-six per cent of which were funded by the National Health Service (Department of Health 2011). To access the strengths and weaknesses of abortion regulation a number of areas must be …show more content…
Although experiences are subjective, women that have later abortions tend to feel more pain and distress following the procedure and so early abortion on a personal level, is preferred (British Pregnancy Advisory Service 2010). Delays caused by the complexity of regulation can therefore, not only intensify unpleasantness but intensify health risks. The law fails to recognise the responsibility of the role of nurses in abortion practise today. It needs to be updated so that nurses can continue to lead the abortion process but without obtaining the signature of two doctors. Training programmes should be offered to nurses to qualify them in independently carrying out abortions at all gestation stages. These reforms would avoid time wasting. More time would enable more available appointments for termination. Ultimately, it would break the barrier of accessing abortion at an early stage (Furedi 2008). Early abortion is considered between five and nine weeks into pregnancy, as outlined access to this can be difficult. However, when taking into account abortion in general, access if not difficult. Although the decision of whether a termination can be conducted remains in the hands of doctors, it is very rare for a request to be denied. Regulations have been criticised for being too lenient in allowing abortion and making it too simple for
Angus McLaren, author of “Illegal Operations: Women, Doctors, and Abortion” demonstrates the life of an abortionist in the late 1800’s to the mid 1900’s. McLaren explains a series of affairs in detail with many different abortionists. Since abortion was illegal at the time, many women consulted midwives, or took the procedure of abortion among themselves, this at times resulted in their death.
In conclusion, having a late-term abortion isn’t the best solution because it cost a lot of money, an inhumane unnecessary procedure, and most of the time the baby could survive outside the womb. Most late-term abortions happen around 20 weeks at this time the mother is half why to her due date, and the baby is starting to flex and stretch. Also the mother is about to fell her baby kick(Approved by the BabyCentre Medical Advisory Board. ). The baby is now at this a baby.Since 1991 81% of surgical facilities have closed in the U.S. because it has become such a controversial topic("Abortions In America."
In the 19th century, after tremendous progress in surgical processes, abortions were then conducted by surgeons on a wide scale, while medical abortions are used concurrently. However, as abortion technology prospers, legal restrictions came with it. In 1803, a English statute abolished the previously-legal first trimester abortions. The act “condemned the willful, malicious, and unlawful use of any medical substance when used with the intent to induce abortion” (Stern, 1968). In 1821, Connecticut enabled the first statute in the United States regulating abortions. Within 10 years, states like Illinois, Ohio, New York, Alabama, and others enabled abortion restriction statutes, and by 1968, 50 of the 51 jurisdictions in the United States have prohibited abortion except in the case women’s life is endangered (Ibid., at 3). In 1965, Britain, however, legalized abortion for “medical conditions of the mother, for socio-economic reasons, for eugenic considerations, and for pregnancies which resulted from rape or incestuous intercourse”, which is still law today (Ibid, at 4). In Canada, abortion has been legalized since 1969 through Bill C-150 if “a committee of three physicians determined that the pregnancy was a threat to the woman's life or health” (Norman, 2012). In 1988, Canadian Supreme Court struck down bill C-150’s provision requiring committee approval to receive an abortion in its decision R v Morgentaler, legalizing abortion across Canada for any reasons (Ibid.).
Unlawful abortion was defined as “unlawful if performed not to save the life of the mother in question.” (Queensland Parliamentary Library, 2003) However, in 1969, the Menhennitt ruling was established in the case R v Davidson. This more liberal interpretation stated that abortion could be ‘lawful’ under strict guidelines and circumstances; establishing that “abortion is lawful if performed to preserve the woman from serious danger. However, the danger must be equal to the dangers imposed by an abortion.” Since the Menhennitt ruling, no new interpretation have been made introduced, nor has any official legislation been introduced, leaving the decision up to the judge, and in some cases, a jury (Cica, 1998). This leaves abortion law hazy and unclear; evidenced by the fact that 14,000 abortions occur every year in Queensland. Stakeholder groups with conflicting views are in uproar over this
for the simple fact that it is not legal. But in my opinion women and
Abortion is never an easy decision, but women have been making the choice for thousands of years. It has become a large dilemma since 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court passed a law making the procedure legal, and an even larger controversial issue. The controversy is divided into “Pro-Choice” and Pro-Life” views. Pro-Choice supporters believe that the woman should have to choice whether to abort or not. Pro-Life supporters believe that it should be illegal to abort and preformed. However, there are many ways for this procedure to be performed. Abortion still remains today a controversial issue, by who should determine if it is the right thing to terminate a pregnancy or not and by how the procedure should be preformed.
Abortion, the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent life, has been practiced since ancient times. With records dating to 1550 BC, it’s no question that abortion techniques have been used throughout the ages as an effective form of birth control. Pregnancies were terminated through a number of methods, including the use of herbs, sharpened instruments, the application of abdominal pressure, and other techniques. In the 19th century, the English Parliament and the American state legislatures prohibited induced abortion to protect women from surgical procedures that were deemed unsafe. However, in 1973, abortion was legalized as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court rule in Roe v. Wade. This ruling made it possible
In the mid-1800’s, abortion was made illegal under most circumstances in most states. For decades following that decision, illegal abortions became the cause of death for many women in the United States. In 1930, 1940, 1950, and 1965, illegal abortions were the official cause of death for 2,700, 1,700, 300, and just under 200 women, respectively. Between 1950 and 1960, illegal abortion ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million per year. Leading up to the court case Roe v. Wade, the only circumstance to get an
I am Kayla Logsdon, a graduating senior from Mill Valley High School. I am currently a resident of Shawnee, Kansas and will be a voting in the next elections. As a student I have seen first hand how the state funding has affected schools and would be excited to see the changes you could make if in office after the elections. Another issue, I believe a women like you has the power to change in the future is the abortion regulations in Kansas. As you may know Kansas has some of the strictest abortion regulations in the nation. While these regulations have positive intentions ultimately they have a negative impact on the economy and safety of the women.
In every society whether it was legal or legal, abortions were used to control fertility. In the United States it was practiced legally until about 1880, by then most states had banned it except to save a woman's life. It was widely practiced through the entire period it was illegal. In the 1890’s there were an estimate of two million abortions per year and, one to two million annually during the 1920’s-30’s. Whether a
The practice of abortions throughout the United States are safe. Abortions have become safer since the procedure was reluctantly legalized in the United States-by the Supreme Court-in 1973. According to The American Medical Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs the number of deaths associated with abortion drastically dropped from roughly four out of every one hundred thousand women in 1973 to .6 per every one hundred thousand women in 1997 (Abortion is Safe). These statistics show that procedure in how an abortion is performed has become safer since legalization. Legalization of abortion permitted the procedure to be performed in a sterile setting- such as a hospital operating room. The medical risk associated with an abortion procedure is highly overestimated. An abortion performed exactly as medically advised carries half the risk of a tonsillectomy (Abortion is Safe). (A tonsillectomy is a simple procedure that is performed on many children in their childhood.) On the other hand, anti-abortion advocates point to emotional problems that could harm the pregnant woman after an abortion. These advocates attempt to show there is a link to mental disorders in post abortion women. A New Zealand study looked to verify this claim. The analysis showed that there was a credible link between depression, suicide attempts and substance abuse in post abortion women (Cords). Researchers also aimed to connect having an abortion with post-traumatic stress disorder
Many women that choose to have an abortion do not realize that it is a dangerous surgery with serious side effects. These side effects are both physical and psychological. Having an abortion is unnatural and interrupts this function of the human body. “The women’s body naturally resists the abortion, causing physical and emotional problems” (“Who does Abortion Affect?”). Almost all of the women who had abortions feel that they have made the wrong decision. The women are not informed about the side effects of abortion. Many women that had abortions said their doctors gave “little or no information about the potential health risks
Abortion is a very tedious act to remove a fetus out of the womb before it has the chance to live on its own. There are two different types of abortions, medical abortion and surgical abortion. Medical abortion is the act of taking “methotrexate or mifepristone, which may be followed by another drug called misoprostol within the first forty-nine days”(pamf.org, “abortion”). Surgical abortion is a procedure done by vacuuming out the uterine lining during pregnancy typically in the first trimester.(pamf.org,”abortion”). There have been problems with abortion for centuries. The most known case concerning abortion is a case called Roe V. Wade in 1973. The case ruled a Texas law banning abortions other than those to save a mother unconstitutional because it violated the right to privacy. A woman named Norma L. McCorvey (“Jane Roe”) “claimed that although her life was not endangered, she could
Statement of Problem: Abortion is defined as the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. Today, especially here in the United States of America, there is a growing issue and debate around the idea of abortion. There is a stigma against abortion because of the possibility of negative religious, political, medical, emotional, and mental consequences it may cause. Each year, worldwide there is an estimated 42 billion abortions that take place. This number does not include abortions that are not performed by professionals. The big issue alongside with abortion itself, is the affects it has on the mental health of females who undergo the procedure.
Abortion is a highly-debated topic of whether it is ethical for a woman to decide to have one. Abortion is any of various surgical methods for deliberately terminating a pregnancy. When we speak of abortion today, we mean induced abortion performed by trained doctors, not including miscarriage (MacKinnon & Fiala, 2015). Some current methods of abortion are morning-after pill, mifepristone, uterine or vacuum aspiration, dilation and curettage, saline solution, prostaglandin drugs, hysterotomy, and partial birth abortion. Abortion involves questions about rights, happiness, and well-being, as well as the status and value of human life. The people who think it is ethical to have an abortion stand on the Pro-choice side and the people who think it is unethical stand on the Pro-life side. The liberal view of abortion supports abortions and the conservative view opposes abortion. There are many legal, religious, and medical conflicts that are included in the debate over abortion. The arguments made from both sides help us better understand whether a woman should have an abortion.