Abortion is the artificial removal of a fetus from the mother’s body, and the methods vary depending on the stage of pregnancy. This article covers the definition of abortion, abortion methods at different stages of pregnancy, and the controversies surrounding it.
Abortion is the artificial removal of a fetus from its mother’s womb prior to natural childbirth, or the killing of a fetus within the mother’s body. There are two types of abortion. The first is spontaneous abortion, and the second is induced abortion. This essay is about induced abortion, not spontaneous abortion. The method of induced abortion depends on the stage of pregnancy. Pregnancy is divided into three trimesters: the first trimester, the second 4-6 months, and the last 7-9 months. Each trimester is equal to three months.
The first trimester is much more stable than the second or last trimester because the fetus is smaller in size. There are two ways to have an abortion in the first trimester. The first is suction-aspiration and dilation and curettage (D&C), and the second is the medical method. In the D&C method, after numbing the cervix, the doctor opens the cervix and inserts a round piece of plastic (which looks like a knife at the end) into the uterus to suction out the baby’s body. During this process, the baby’s body and the placenta attached to the uterine wall are forcibly removed. The suction method involves scraping the uterine wall with a curette in the uterus.
Nowadays, people mostly use the medical method during the first three months of pregnancy. Two drugs are used in the medical method: Methotrexate and Mifepristone (RU-486). These drugs are always used in combination with a prostaglandin. Mifepristone is the first antiprogestin to be developed and is used during the first 7-9 weeks of pregnancy. Methotrexate is used in combination with misoprostol until the 7th week of pregnancy. Methotrexate can have serious side effects and requires a doctor’s prescription. Mifepristone, on the other hand, is more effective than Methotrexate and has fewer side effects. Comparing the medical and surgical methods, the medical method maintains the pregnancy in 0.1%-1.4% of cases, while the surgical method maintains the pregnancy in 0.23% of cases. Therefore, in the first three months, the medical method is more effective than the surgical method.
In the fourth to sixth month of pregnancy, medical methods can also be used for abortion, but the surgical method is safer. The surgical method is dilation and evacuation (D&E), which is similar to D&C. Because the fetus and uterus are larger during this time, the D&E method requires a wider cervix than D&C. In the D&E method, the doctor extracts the fetus to its original size and then crushes the skull or extracts the brain to complete the abortion procedure. This method is most often used in the fourth through sixth months of pregnancy.
In the 7th to 9th month of pregnancy, abortions are not called “abortions” but rather “pregnancy termination” or “miscarriage.” During this time, abortions are difficult and risky and are only available in certain cases (for example, if the fetus is brainless or has a lethal chromosomal abnormality). During this time, abortions can be performed by intact dilation and extraction (IDX) or hysterotomy. IDX is a method of removing the fetus by decompressing the fetal head, which has been banned in the United States. Hysterotomy is similar to a cesarean section, but removes the fetus through a small incision. This method is performed under general anesthesia and is more risky than other abortion methods and can have many complications.
Both surgical and medical abortions have side effects. The severity of the side effects depends on the woman’s condition and the method used. They can include heavy bleeding, difficulty conceiving, damage to the cervix or uterus, and even death. Abortion, especially in late pregnancy, can have psychological effects. Support from family and friends is important after an abortion.
Although abortion is illegal in some countries, women still have abortions for a variety of reasons. First, because they want to delay or stop labor; second, for economic reasons; third, because of population control policies; fourth, because of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest; fifth, because of the health of the mother or fetus; sixth, because of illnesses such as cancer. For these reasons, women want abortions, but society condemns them.
The debate over whether abortion is killing a human being can be viewed from religious and biological perspectives. Most religions view killing a human being as a sin, but it is interpreted differently depending on the situation. Buddhism views abortion negatively, but allows it in cases of health threats. In Christianity, early scholars viewed abortion as sinful. In Hinduism, classical texts prohibit abortion, but allow it for health reasons. Islam prohibits abortion because a fetus has a human mind after 120 days. Traditional Judaism allows abortion to protect the mother’s health. There is also debate about when a fetus is considered a person from a biological perspective. Some view fetuses as fully human and consider abortion to be murder. On the other hand, others argue that abortion is not murder because the fetus is not considered a human being.
There is also the argument that abortion is a woman’s right. Margaret Sanger said that if a woman is not free to control her own body, she is not free. Some argue that a woman should be free to choose to have an abortion because it is a woman’s right. However, women’s activist groups argue that abortion absolves men of responsibility. It should be seen that a woman has a right to her body and the fetus is dependent on her body. They agree that abortions in the first trimester are safe and have fewer side effects, but later abortions are dangerous and have more side effects. I believe that a fetus is dependent on the woman’s body, and that a fetus and a child are different: a fetus lives inside a woman’s body and is completely dependent on her body, but a child can be dependent on other people. The abortion debate is still not over, but some countries have made abortion illegal.
