Abortion and Religion

Abortion and Religion

Abortion is the termination of pregnancy before the actual time of giving birth. It can as a result of one’s will, but it can also occur without anybody’s intervention. When it occurs without one’s intention, it is called a miscarriage or spontaneous abortion (A Chaundry, 2019). Abortion has got different views from different people, different countries, and even from various religious groups. With some condemning it while others support it. Each group has its reasons which to them seem right and ought to be respected. Significant reasons why mostly condemn it is because of the religious perspective, numerous religious traditions have taken a stance on abortion, but few are absolute (G Hodson et al.., 2017). These stances span a full bracket, based on various teachings and religious sprints. Some of the groups and their stands include the below; according to Buddhism codes, they hold the belief that life begins at conception, and that abortion, which would then involve the deliberate destruction of life, should be rejected. The notion that life is a continuum with no obvious starting point (AR Meira, 2017). Despite all this, they hold that there are exceptions upon which abortion can do according to the prevailing circumstance. According to Christianity, there is no explicit prohibition of abortion in either the book of the Christian bible (I Castuera, 2017). Different scholars have concluded that early Christians took a nuanced stance on what is now called abortion and that at different times, and in separate places, early Christians have taken different positions.  According to others, abortion is considered a sin at the stages. This created various disagreements over their thoughts on what type of crime it is. Some early Christians believed that the embryo did not have a soul from conception.

Consequently, opinion is divided as to whether or not early abortion was murder or ethically equivalent to death.  According to Hinduism, their text highly condemns the abortion act (L Selebalo et al.., 2019).To them, both parties should not be affected by the process that is both man and wife. However, it is practised because of the cultural preference for sons. Hence they practice the birth of girl babies, and various groups have come to fight this act. Some Hindu theologians state that life begins at three months and develops at the other months; hence they promote birth termination before three months. The Unitarian Universalism church strongly supports abortion rights. Their association passed a resolution that gave the right to choice on contraception and abortion are vital aspects for respect for human life as well as their privacy and freedom of conscience of women and their families(HS Mohammed, 2018). The code of conduct of Sikhism does not deal directly with abortion but strongly condemns the practice of girl killing, but it also encompasses female foeticide. However, while there is no explicit prohibition in the Guru Sahib or the Sikh Maryada, abortion is generally viewed by some Sikhs as forbidden because it is said to interfere with the creative work of God. Despite this theoretical viewpoint, abortion is not uncommon among the Sikh community in India, and there is growing concern that female fetuses are being aborted because of the cultural preference for sons. The Islam religion has different opinions about when life begins and when abortion is permutable. Most Muslim schools permit abortion within the first sixteen weeks of pregnancy, whereas others permit it only within the first seven weeks of pregnancy. Quran states to prohibit abortion in fear of poverty, and all schools accept abortion as a means to save the mother’s life. Judaism teachings allow abortion, if necessary, to safeguard the life of a pregnant woman. They draw their views primarily upon the legal and ethical teachings of the Hebrew bible and the case-by-case decisions of response.  The book of prophet Jeremiah 1:5 states that” Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” The bible is a clear indication that God is aware of the identity of “developing unborn human beings even before they enter the womb. Hence abortion may be seen as going against God’s will because he has a plan for everyone.

There are various methods through which how abortion is carried out; basically, they are classified into two groups; surgical abortion method and the non-surgical method. Under surgical abortion methods, there are many means of carrying out the process; one of the most commonly applied ways is vacuum aspiration abortion, here a tube is gently inserted into the womb through the cervix, and the content of the uterus is sucked out( S Sheldon et al.., 2017). Another method id dilation and evacuation, here the woman’s cervical is enlarged with tools called dilators when the canal has sufficiently enlarged the wombs emptied by suction or by having its content scrapped out by an instrument called a curette. Another method involves the extraction of body of fetus into the vagina before the contents of the skull are sucked out, killing the unborn after which the intact fetus is removed from the woman’s body. This method is called partial-birth abortion. Through the Non-surgical process, there is the use of the abortion pill. Pill abortion is a method of terminating early pregnancy using medications taken by mouth or by injection, which produces a miscarriage (IH Solheim.., 2020). Usually, this method is much safe and appropriate within the first seven weeks after pregnancy. It is a much suitable method preferred by many because it looks much “natural” and also because it avoids surgery. The pills used have some side effects hence posing a health risk to women, although no studies have supported this.  Another non-surgical method is the usage of the morning-after pill, which contains a much dose of female hormones customarily found in the standard contraceptive pill. They operative by producing an abortion, but it is almost impossible to know how they are going to work. Works by preventing or delaying ovulation (K Kraetschmer, 2019). The intrauterine device is also another method involving fitting up to five days the device after unprotected sex.

This data mainly arrives from various data collected from medical facilities and also through direct admission of questions because most of these cases occur under private environments.

Although most religious groups consider abortion as an immoral vice, they are regarded as very safe procedures (K Woodruff, 2019). Under rare circumstances that complications are observed after abortions carried safely. It is considered riskier giving birth than doing an abortion (American college of obstetricians and gynecologists).

Another fact about abortions is that most girls who are associated with abortion are young teens who are financial crises. Also, women with children have highly associated with abortions, the main concern for the ability to provide to the children.

Another evidence regarding abortion is the availability of many types of the process, which comes a long way to how far the pregnancy you are (EO Singer, 2019). Before engaging in anything, you usually consult the doctor for the way forward. Most of these processes are considered to yield the needed results accordingly.

Making abortion illegal won’t help anything. Because many girls consider it the last option as it could interfere with their late later life either in academia, work, or even the ability to care for their existing kids(C Gerdt et al.., 2016). Prohibiting the process will put many lives at risk as the process is also carried for health reasons. Making this process will result in many social, economic, physical and financial stresses thus pushing women to poverty

Another truth is that the abortion rate is declining at a reasonable pace as a result of increased awareness about unwanted pregnancies and also due to the introduction of birth controls methods.

It is said that about 13% of maternal death can be attributed to unsafe abortion worldwide, and thus considering almost 22million are carrying out an abortion, approximately out of this 47,000 women die, and further 5 million become annually disabled. In developing countries, it is said that about 5million women are admitted to hospitals each year, and millions of them endure long-term health consequences.

A study on abortions is ordinarily hard to carry due to limited access to the required data. The mathematical problem included in conducting numerous analyses capitalizing on chance, using small sample sizes lacking sufficient power to detect potentially meaningful differences (Reardo and Ney, 2000).under sporadic opportunities that these studies manage to use appropriate comparison groups to carry out their research hence unable to address the question of relative risk. Lack of adequate control for co-occurring risk factors is also another challenge in this study (Joseph M et al.., 2018).  Lack of measures of mental health and other variables before the pregnancy or abortion that were likely to be related to the outcome studied.

Many organizations have come up to try ways of solving this problem in a much ethical way. Abortion is not only a public health problem but also a human rights issue. Hence it is also the role of government in ensuring that women are protected accordingly by its governing laws. One big organization helping women about the problem is the World Health Organization. It is involved in ensuring that women are well educated about abortions and ensures that there is the optimization of the available health workforce and also address health system shortages of specialized health-care professionals. The organization also helps in post-abortion care, which involves the management of complications of abortion. Their fundamental values are to ensure their workforce reflects basic human rights, equity, and universality. Another organization dealing with abortions around the globe is the National Organization for women, whose value is bringing women into full participation in the mainstream of society.

The history of abortion can be dated back to the ancient past. The enforcement of abortion laws have fluctuated through various years and are still evolving overtime to the western countries, and abortion laws came to be active mostly during the 20^th century while it remains legal in most of the western countries, it is challenged chiefly by anti-abortion groups (K Woodruff et al.., 2018)

Abortion usually is not an independent option but is a result of many variables. These variables are dependent on critical issues of importance to women and the whole society at large (Bethlehem et al.., 2019). In a case where a woman’s life is at risk, her life becomes an independent variable that is dependent on her decision on whether to carry out the abortion or not. Another case is her financial status, and this becomes her independent variable, which determines whether she will go on giving birth or not. Her religious stand also acts as a strong pillar on the decisions she makes. Hence religion can be an independent factor.

References

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Affonso Renato Meira, 2017.  Family planning and abortion, birth control using intrauterine devices.

Bethlehem Alemayu, Adamu Sisav, Wondimu Avele, 2019. Reproductive health, the impact of pregnancy on individuals.

C Gerdts, L Dobkin, Foster, EB Schwarz, 2016. Women health issues

EO Singer, 2019.  Medical anthropology. Realizing abortion rights at the margins of legality around the globe.

G Hodson, CC Maclnnis, 2017. Personality and individual differences, abortion, conservation and sexism.

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IH Solheim, KM Moland, C Kahabuka, ab Pembe, 2020. Social science and medicine

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