Legalization Of Abortion

Legalization of Abortion 

1. Introduction

Abortion is one of the ways to end a woman’s pregnancy and it can be done either through taking medicines (up to 10 weeks) or by undergoing a surgery. This aims to prevent childbirth to happen due to woman’s incapability to cope with the process that might have herself at risk. Legalizing abortion would conform to the laws, thus it will be written in accord with women’s rights. The importance of making it legal is beneficial for women in such various aspects; 1) getting away with unwanted pregnancy that might be a result of rape or harassment, 2) preventing the occurrence of mental illness or stress, and 3) giving women the power and control over their own bodies and condition. This paper will not change the perspectives of just women but the insights or principles of people, and the mentality of the society as well.

2. Review of Related Literature

2.1. The Effect of Abortion Legalization on Fertility, Marriage and Long-term Outcomes for Women

In a study titled ‘The Effect of Abortion Legalization on Fertility, Marriage and Long-term Outcomes for Women’ by Castello, JV., Jimenez-Martin, S., Gonzales, L., & Nollenberger, N. (2018). The authors got a chance to evaluate effects of abortion policy or legalizing abortion on marriage and fertility in a short run, as well as study its long-term impact in academics attainment and completed fertility. The researchers gathered the facts using the data from several studies about effects of legalizing abortion in Spain and translating it to formulate the results in connection with present time. During 1985, abortion was only allowed in Spain when: 1) the pregnancy might cause the woman to jeopardize her mental or physical health, 2) the pregnancy is a result of rape considering that the assault has been reported, or 3) there is a possibility of deformity or deficiency in the fetus, mentally or physically, given that intervention is finished inside the gestation’s first 22 weeks (Bailey & Lindo, 2017). The short-term effect of abortion in marriage has resulted to a decrease in number of people getting married among 17-25 years old due to early fertility. In terms of education, it was said that women in ages 21 below who are given abortion services are, in all probability, in full-time education and not working, compared to others who are forbidden to abort. It also let younger women prolonged their participation in full-time education. On the other hand, the data from long-term effects in abortion focused on educational degree, labor market and life satisfaction of pregnant women in regional areas. It is stated that women are more likely to continue full-time education and have a vocational degree, which means that the legalization of abortion has a long-term impact. In the case of labor market, women who have abortion services are less likely to be employed and working, and in life satisfaction given the abortion liberalization, women are found to be more content and satisfied because of the time allotted to leisure and housing conditions.

2.2 Effects of Abortion Legalization in Nepal, 2001-2010

In 2013, a study conducted by Henderson J., Puri M., Blum M, Harper C., Rana A, Gurung, G., Pradhan, N., Regmi, K., Malla, K., Sharma, S., Grossman, D., Bajracharya, L., Satyal, I., Acharya, S., & Darney, P. entitled Effects of Abortion Legalization in Nepal, 2001-2010, sought to gather key information and to critically analyze whether the legalization of abortion help to reduce the high rate of unsafe abortion in Nepal between the year 2001-2010. The principal objective of this study is to have a perspicuous grasp with regards to the link between the lived experiences and conditions of women before and after the legalization of abortion. A Retrospective Review of Medical Charts was used as this research’s data analysis method which measures the abortion-related admissions occurring from January 2001 through December 2010. This study is primarily focused on the effects of legalization of abortion in Nepal in accordance to the before implementation (2001–2003), early implementation (2004–2006), and later implementation (2007–2010). Henderson, Puri, et. al (2013), concluded that for the years 2001-2010, there are 23, 493, a relatively low number of cases of abortion complications than to the years where abortion is illegal, were analyzed and observed for the before, early and later implementation of the passage of abortion in Nepal. The study found that the liberation of abortion policy in Nepal has made a drastic change that lessen the number of maternal mortality rate and made a radical development in women’s health.

3. Conclusion

In this chapter, the authors provided clarity stemmed information from journal articles that tackled the concept, ideas and effects of legalizing abortion in women’s life. In a study conducted by Castello, Jimenez-Martin, et. al. in 2018, it was revealed that the legalization of abortion had a long-term impact on women’s lives in terms of education attainment, working lifestyle and life satisfaction. The results said that women who usually get abortion services are more likely to have a full-time education, content with their free time and lifestyle but less likely to be working. In line with this, a study conducted by Henderson, Puri, et. al. in 2013, stated that following the abortion legalization in Nepal, the number of maternal mortality has been reduced by a large number and made a positive outcome in women’s health. Relating and following the findings of these journal articles to this paper, it can be deduced that further actions prompting to increase the amount of people’s knowledge with regards to the positive effects of abortion will lead to the enlightenment of society and now shedding light upon legalizing abortion and letting women to have the abortion rights they are entitled to.

References:

1. Castello, JV., Jimenez-Martin, S., Gonzales, L., & Nollenberger, N. (2018). The effect of abortion legalization on fertility, marriage and long-term outcomes for women. Universitat Pompeu Fabra: Barcelona. Retrieved from https://www.upf.edu/documents/8535616/213208182/Draft_abortion_180509.pdf/6cfc3681-e193-9242-d36c-dba4c446869b
2. Henderson JT, Puri M, Blum M, Harper CC, Rana A, et al. (2013) Effects of Abortion Legalization in Nepal, 2001–2010. PLoS ONE 8(5): e64775. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064775