Abortion :: essays research papers

miscarriageThe loss of a fetus before it is able to live outdoors the womb is calledabortion. When abortion occurs spontaneously, it is often called a miscarriage.Abortion can withal be intentionally caused, or induced. Induced abortion isregarded as a moral issue in some cultures. In others it is seen as an bankable way to end unplanned pregnancy. Abortion is a relatively saucer-eyed andsafe procedure when done by trained medical workers during the send-off threemonths (first trimester) of pregnancy. Abortion is less safe when performedafter the 13th hebdomad of pregnancy. Before the right of a woman to obtain anabortion was sustain by the coupled States Supreme Court in the 1973 ruling onRoe vs. Wade, many abortions were performed illegally and in unskilled ways.This caused the deaths of many women from transmitting and bleeding. It also causedmuch sterility, or the permanent inability to have a child. The usual surgicaltechnique of abortion during the first trimester is t o insert a metal or plastictubeinto the uterus through its opening, the cervix. A spoonlike dick atthe end of the tube is used to gently scrape the walls of the uterus. A suctionmachine at the other end of the tube removes the circumscribe from the uterus. Thisprocedure is called vacuum aspiration and is done primarily in a medical clinicor doctors office using a local anesthetic(a) for the cervix. During the secondtrimester, abortions are usually done by means of distention and evacuation. Thisprocedure uses forceps, curette, and vacuum aspiration. Although rarely sought,third-trimester abortions may be performed when the fetus has toilsome geneticdefects or because continuing the pregnancy would be a panic to the womanshealth. A controversy began in 1988 over a drug, developed in France, calledRU 486, which, when taken during the first 7 weeks of pregnancy, causes theembryo to become uninvolved from the uterus. The drug was reported to be safer andless expensive than surgic al abortion. Antiabortion groups in France succeededin temporarily halting the sale of the drug, although the government later consistent it to be made available. The use of RU 486 was supported by family- intend agencies in the United States, France, and elsewhere and by the WorldHealth arrangement and the World Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Thelong-term effects of RU 486 on womens health were unknown. Abortion as a wayto end unplanned pregnancy is practiced in many countries. In Europe by 1992only Ireland had a complete ban on abortion. In the United States the legality