Abortion Abortion on demand should be legal for many reasons. In countries whereabortion is absolutely not tolerated it is a fact that women continue toreceive abortions, from unqualified back-street abortionists or thevillage massage abortionist. Both of these individuals risk putting thewoman through painful and potentially fatal tortures just in an attemptto abort a child. Each year 84 000 women die worldwide from failedabortion attempts. Because of anti-abortion legislation women avoidgoing to the hospital, often until it is too late, to avoid prosecutionfrom police. In the cases of rape and incest the very idea of beingforced to have the child of the woman's abuser is repulsive. There arealso cases when a woman's health is put in jeopardy by having a child atall, forcing such a woman to bring a child to term, would be no lessthan attempted murder. If a woman is forced to give birth to a child shedoes not want, if left in that woman's custody, the child couldpotentially face hatred and resentment from the mother for the rest ofit's life. In countries all over the world, children are found dead andabandoned in places as degrading as garbage dumps. The only effectivemethod of preventing unwanted births is abstinence, and this is just nota realistic objective. There is no 100% effective form of birth control,and even men and women using birth control have unwanted pregnancies.Some women for financial, occupational, social, and maturity reasons,see pregnancy as cessation of their lives. There are no accuratestatistics on how many women attempt or succeed in committing suicideeach year rather than live with their pregnancies. Women will continueto have abortions with or without government legislation, but withlegislation, the conditions under which they have their abortions can besanctioned and observed. The role of family in abortion is that preservation of family has aprofound impact on some women's decision whether or not to have anabortion. Some women have learned to protect and preserve each and every

member of her family, including an unborn child. For these womenabortion is not even a consideration, but many do live their livesharboring resent towards their husbands and the child for forcing her tohave a child she did not necessarily want. Other women see abortion as anecessity to protect the family they already have. For financial reasonsespecially some women believe that abortion at this time in life is notan option, and to protect the stability of their families haveabortions. The role that school has on the issue of abortion is thatpresently schools teach students how to best protect themselves againstpregnancy. Many schools provide condoms to students, and attempt toinstill a sense of responsibility in both female and male students. Therole that the church plays on the issue of abortion is especiallyimportant to society. For hundreds of years, whatever the church'sposition on abortion, the entire world adopted. For centuries the churchhas accepted abortion for a few hundred years and then condemnedabortion for a few hundred years, but in either case society hasembraced the church's thinking. For many both religious andnon-religious women, the church's opinion of abortion is highly reveredand obeyed. The Catholic Church denounces both birth control andabortion so women are getting pregnant and are being forced to raiseenormous families, straining the family, especially financially. Thegovernment's role in the issue of abortion, is the legislator of alllaws pertaining to abortion. The Canadian government, which is morelenient towards the issue of abortion than other countries, providesabortion to women, on the grounds of either mental or physical damagethat would be caused by the birth of a child. The government also bansmost abortions after the first trimester because after this date, thereis significantly more risk to the health of the woman. The medicalprofession provides legal abortions to women, and it is medicalprofessionals who make up the panel of doctors who decide if a woman mayhave an abortion. These members examine what level of trauma the womanwould suffer by having a child, and decide whether or not to grant anabortion to a woman.