Essay, Research Paper: Abortion

Abortion, termination of pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent life. When expulsion from the womb occurs after the fetus becomes viable capable of life, usually at the end of six months of pregnancy, it is technically a premature birth.
The practice of abortion was widespread in ancient times as a method of birth control. Later it was restricted or forbidden by most world religions, but it was not considered an offense in secular law until the 19th century. During that century, first English Parliament and then American state legislatures prohibited induced abortion to protect women from surgical procedures that were at the time unsafe, commonly stipulation a threat to the woman’s life as the sole exception to the prohibition. Occasionally the exception was enlarged to include danger to the mother’s health as well.
Legislative action in the 20th century has been aimed at permitting the termination of unwanted pregnancies for medical, social, or private reasons. Abortions at the woman’s request were the first allowed by the Soviet Union in 1920. Followed by Japan and several East European nations after WW II. In the late 1960’s, Liberalized abortion regulations became widespread. The impetus for the change was threefold:(1) Infanticide and the high maternal death rate associated with illegal abortions, (2) a rapidly expanding world population, (3) the growing feminist movement.
Under the criminal code. R.S.C. 970 C.C-34 abortion constitutes a criminal offense, section 159(2)(C) makes it an offense to offer or have for gale or disposal, to publish or advertise means, instructions or medicine intended or represented to cause abortion or miscarriage. Section 221(1) makes the act of causing death to a child who has not become a human being, in the act of birth, equivalent to murder. Abortion constitutes an indictable offense. Section 251 (4) allows permission for a therapeutic abortion to be obtained from a competent committee, fulfilling strict regulations, with the operation performed by a qualified physician. However, the common law defense of necessity is theoretically available for a surgical operation performed for the patient’s benefit.
Until 1988, under the Canadian Criminal Code, an attempt to induce an abortion by any means was crime. The maximum penalty was life imprisonment or two years if the women herself was convicted. The law liberalized in 1969, with an amendment to the criminal code. Allowing that abortions are legal if performed by a doctor in an accredited hospital after a committee certified that the continuation of the pregnancy would likely endanger the mother’ life or health. In 1989, 70, 779 abortions were reported in Canada or 18 per 100 live births.
Abortion is a divisive social issue, condemned by some groups and supported by others as a moral issue to be decided by individuals, not the state, It is complicated for the government to balance both sides of the issue. Not everyone can be unconditionally content. The government has to decide on what is fair and what is morally right. The character guarantees the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived there has except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice. A woman, pregnant or not, has the right to control her own life and destiny, She also has the right to make her own choices about what affects her. A woman has the right to feel secure in haven and abortion, and feel secure about her own health.
A woman’s baby is her own. What she does with it is her own business. An unborn child does not have the ability to think for itself, so the mother must think for it. It may show life signs but it is not conscious and has no reasoning. It is not up to someone else to decide what is right and what is wrong for another individual. Who are we to tell someone else what to do or think.
It is understandable that people do not agree that abortion should be a choice for a woman. They may not understand what the woman may be struggling with morality and or physically. The government should have little control over this issue. They should monitor people to make certain that abortion is not used as a contraceptive. For this may be endangering the health of a woman.
Currently, Abortion is legal in Michigan. A pregnant woman can go down to a hospital and have an abortion. Even an underage woman can have an abortion without parental consent, with a judge’s approval. This bill deems abortion legal but it adapts one stipulation. That for a woman to have an abortion she must have the father’s approval or a judge’s approval if the father’s in contest. The father is currently left out of any and all decisions made by the mother. The father has just as much right to the baby as the mother. Suppose a couple conceives, the mother wants an abortion but the father wants to keep the baby. As the law stands now, the father has no choice in the matter. This bill will give the father a voice in the baby’s future. With this bill, the mother will have to the father’s signature or a judge’s decision to waive the signature in case of extenuating circumstances.


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