Abortion
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Abortion
Abortion is the practice where the removal or the expulsion of the embryo or fetes is being carried out. This process has to be done before it is able to survive outside the uterus. Now, an abortion is the process that is supposed to happen without intervention is called as the miscarriage or spontaneous abortion. Whereas when there are deliberate steps taken for the abortion, it is termed as the induced abortion. With the passage of time, there has been considerable discussion about the legality of the abortion, and with concerns by the religious authorities, the topic has always garnered considerable interest among the stakeholders. In this paper, it is going to be seen that how the process of the abortion is supposed to be carried out, and how the late termination of the pregnancy would imply late term abortion. Historically, one of the reasons that there has been debate about the abortion is due to the fact that how the religious implications that are attached to it as well as the safety of the procedure along with the fact that the determination if the fact that whether a fetes can be considered a life or not.
Laws and Regulations Regarding Abortion
Due to the increased usage of the contraception, the number of abortions that are occurring around the world are declining, despite this fact, it has been a topic of considerable interest among all the stakeholders and there has always been debate about how the abortion laws are supposed to be shaped up. Now, there are certain conditions under which abortion is going to be legal in some of the countries, but there is wide argument regarding how and what are some of the ways through which these conditions are going to be working out. The United Nations charter makes it clear that the abortion is important when there is a case that the life of the women is in danger due to the pregnancy complications. There are some other commonly accepted reasons such as the preservation of the physical and mental health of the women. Not only that, there are large number of countries that tend to discourage abortion if there is a case that if pregnancy is happening due to rape and incest, then the abortion is somewhat considered to be legal. At the same time, there are certain countries that ask for the special procedures to be taking place before the practice of the abortion is going to be allowed. These grounds are supposed to be met all the time if the legislation is supposed to be controlled. In Finland, for instance, the abortions are not going to be granted due to the fact that they are merely based on the request of the women. There is difference in the laws as far as the country wise legislation is supposed to be carried out. For instance, it has been found out in several of the clinics that how the circumventing law is supposed to be shaped and when there is a case of the abortion, then the women who is supposed to go through the procedure must make sure that the circumventing law has to be signed by the user at that point of time. This signature is an integral process as f areas the progression of the abortion is going to be taking place. Talking about the things in the context of the United States, the abortion laws have always created some unwarranted discussion and one of the reasons that there is divide is that how the interpretation of the special circumstances under which the abortion is allowed is bound to vary from one state to the another. The main actors who take part in the discussion with regards to the abortion is that there are two groups that tend to talk about how these things are supposed to be working, the first one is the prochoice and the other one is the prolife. Most of the Americans though tend to share a somewhat liberal stand in this regard. One of the discussions about the way legal abortion is going to be determined is that how the fetes is viable at the time of the abortion. The majority of the opinion is divided in this regard and it is one of the prime reasons that the abortion laws have created considerable debate among the people of the United States.
One of the major acts and legislation that was being signed with regards to the abortion was the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. This was a United States Congress bill and the idea behind the bill was to make sure that the long term late abortions are supposed to be banned at the nationwide level after 20 weeks post fertilization that is working on the basis that how the fetes is going to be capable of feeling the pain during the course of an abortion and after the end point of the pregnancy. The bill was first introduced in Congress in 2015, and it was quite successful when it comes to getting passed in the House of the Representatives. The important thing though that has to be kept in mind is that the Bill is yet to pass the Senate, and this is one of the areas that is needed to be worked upon so that the greater degree of accuracy is achieved in this regard. There was another bill that was passed more recently in April in Alabama and that Bill talked about how the criminalization of the abortion if it is going to be signed into the law. There are only two exceptions that are offered in this regard, the first one is that if there are serious healthcare issues for the women, and the other major risk is that how the lethal fatal anomaly is bound to occur during the case. There was an effort by the lawmakers to make sure that they challenge the Roe v Wade in the Supreme Court was this judgement was going against this act where criminalization of the Abortion was supposed to be done.
Legal Cases
There have been many legal cases in the past where the way decision was being made by the courts and the circumstances that surrounded the whole ordeal lead to considerable debate. In this section, some of the previous cases regarding the abortion are going to be discussed and it would be seen that how they changed the debate surrounding the abortion.
One of the first major case regarding the abortion was Roe vs Wade. In this case, one of the key points that was discussed legally was how the viability was being defined at that point of time. The idea is that how they fete is going to be live outside the mother’s womb and whether some sort of artificial aid can be provided in this regard. The viability in the given case was placed at about seven months. Though this time period is not definitive, and the duration can be as low as 24 weeks. A central issue in the Roe case (and in the wider abortion debate in general) is whether human life or personhood begins at conception, birth, or at some point in between. The Court declined to make an attempt at resolving this issue, noting: "We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins.
There was another case during which considerable outpour by the media was witnessed. It was the case of the Gerri Santoro, a woman who was in Connecticut and how she died trying to obtain illegal abortion. Her photo became somewhat of the start of the movement where it was discussed that how greater choice is supposed to be given to the women in this regard as far as the way abortion laws are supposed to be working out. There were some groups that were working in the Chicago at that point of time that had worked quite considerably in this regard as far as the way level of control is supposed to be implemented at the given point of time.
In 2006, the youngest child to survive the premature birth in the United States was born to be a girl in the Kapiolani Medical Centre that is located in Honolulu. Because there exists a split between the way Federal and State laws are supposed to be implemented, the legal access to the abortion continues to be change from one state to the another. At the same time, the way geographic availability is witnessed is bound to vary quite dramatically from one state to the another.
The Doe v Bolton was another case that gained considerable attention was far as the way abortion laws are supposed to be shaped up. The major premises of the law based on the idea that how the state governments are not going to be allowing late termination pregnancy if there is a case where it becomes important to make sure that the prevention of the life becomes necessary in terms of how the health and life of the mother is supposed to be taken care off. This rule was further clarified in the 1973 judicial decisions and the ruling that was given for the Doe v Bolton as it specified about the fact that how relevant the age of the women is when it comes to making sure that the adequate care is being provided to her. It is the provision for the mental healthcare of the women patient that women in the United States have to choose to make sure that they make it more viable as far as the way screenings are going to be revealing the abnormalities that are not causing a baby to die shortly after the birth. So, there is considerable provision in law when it comes to these cases. What it goes to show that extent of the debate abortion tends to create in the United States.
In the case of Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, the Supreme Court in a 5-3 decision on June 27, 2016 swept away forms of state restrictions on the way abortion clinics can function. The Texas legislature enacted in 2013 restrictions on the delivery of abortions services that created an undue burden for women seeking an abortion by requiring abortion doctors to have difficult-to-obtain "admitting privileges" at a local hospital and by requiring clinics to have costly hospital-grade facilities.
Summary
There has been considerable debate surrounding the way abortion laws are supposed to work in the United States. The problem with the United States is that it becomes quite hard to make sure that the implementation of the laws is carried out at the Uniform level. One of the reasons that the clear definition and the purpose of the law is not created is due to the fact that the Americans are quite divided as far as the way abortion laws are supposed to be working out at the given point of time. Not only that, the other major problem as far as the abortion laws tend to work is that how there are considerable differences from one state to the another in terms of how the abortion laws are supposed to work and how the broader perspective is going to be developed in this regard at the given point of time. The debate by the moral and the religious circles is another reason that the abortion laws are bound to gain considerable debate among all the stakeholders at the given point of time. it has to be noted that Federal laws are also not clear in terms of how the abortion is supposed to work. A 2018 Gallup survey found the percentages that were pro-choice or pro-life were equal (at 48%), but more people considered abortion morally wrong (48%) than morally acceptable (43%). The poll results also indicated that Americans harbor a diverse and shifting set of opinions on the legal status of abortion. The survey found that only 29% of respondents believed abortion should be legal in all circumstances, and 50% of respondents believed that abortion should be legal under certain circumstances.
References
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