Ethical Issues With Abortion

Before abortion was legalised in the United States in 1973, women who had unwanted pregnancies had to rely on illegal abortion. Doctors who performed illegal abortions often focused more on speed rather than the safety of the mother. In the 1950s, over a million illegal abortions were performed in the United States. Due to the unsafe nature of illegal abortions, more than one thousand women died each year. (Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century, n.d.) Now, abortion is allowed in most countries around the world. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are approximately 40-50 abortions yearly, which amounts to almost 125,000 abortions in one day. As such, abortion is a highly controversial subject. This paper serves to address the various issues that comes with abortion. …show more content…
Research done by the Alan Guttmacher Institute has shown that the main reason as to why women go through abortion is due to the fact that having a child would be troublesome, excessively costly or too difficult to cope with. (Schultz, n.d.) A study led in 2004 among 1,209 American women at different abortion clinics, it was uncovered that neither health issues, rape, incest, nor coercion by family members or partners were the primary or even secondary reasons for seeking an abortion. Ninety-two % of women said social or "other" components were the purpose for their abortion. Just seven percent said physical issues or conceivable wellbeing issues with the infant were the reason, and just 0.5% said they were looking for an abortion since they had been sexually