Social problems are behaviors that have negative consequences to a majority of people, and they often need viable and concise strategies to mitigate them (Social Inequality Textbook, pg. 2). With the continued upsurge in population dynamics and trends, social problems have become the topic of debate as they affect a vast number of people. If left unmanaged, social problems can lead to short-term and long-term effects that may cause fatalities and adverse mental breakdowns amongst the victims. There are various social issues in the world, but this paper will specifically dwell on abortion as it affects many women all over the world. Furthermore, the topic interested me as I am a woman, and I would like other women to know about this kind of social problem. Also, as a woman, I would like to examine and assess abortion, as I have the robust experience of pregnancy, as it encompasses mood changes, physical, mental, and emotional turmoil. Some pregnancies may enhance happiness, while some may cause in-depth challenges to a woman, hence necessitating prudence measures like abortion to either save the baby or the mother in a long-run perspective. Therefore, this paper will liberally discuss abortion from a social perspective and holistic approaches to address this social issue. Furthermore, the paper will anchor on abortion from a theoretical, social, and political perspective. To achieve this, the paper will utilize coursework readings and other peer-reviewed sources that have researched abortion from various perspectives.
Abortion from a Sociology Perspective
Unlike other social challenges affecting society, abortion has been kept a secret since time immemorial. Some victims say that when a girl or a woman aborts an infant, she gets stigmatized and traumatized thereafter ( Zia et al., 2021) . But in reality, abortion may save a life in certain circumstances where a mother has a chronic medical condition, or when the infant has some challenges. In sociology, abortion is usually shaped by groups to which a girl or a woman belongs. The society also plays an important role in determining the prevalence of abortion within certain groups of women, For example, if a girl comes from a community that has legalized abortion, she will be likely to undergo this social problem in her life, compared to a girl that comes from a society that has banned abortion. With technological advancement at the society level, various online platforms like Whatsup, Twitter, and Snap chat act as spaces where abortion can be stimulated and adopted by various social groups ( Ellmann, 2020) . For instance, according to the New York Times, Pro-life Americans have a low probability of hearing about abortion issues from pro-choice Americans due to their social life. Also, Americans who subscribe to restrictive views concerning abortion are less likely to get prompt updates from Americans who hold liberal views on abortion.
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Moreover, the social concept alludes to that inadequate wealth in certain groups may propel abortion within certain vulnerable groups ( Jayaweera et al ., 2021). Inability to access employment and viable funds to maintain pregnancy may make a girl or a woman opt-in aborting the infant due to fear of costs associated with delivery, and overall child upkeep. For example, if a poor girl or woman gets impregnated, her friends may advise her to abort the baby due to financial constraints she is facing and the challenges thereafter she might get. In developing countries, abortion is often caused by financial turmoil experienced by poor women. Also, in the United States, adverse financial burden may result in the woman aborting the infant to avoid long-term financial distress and mental breakdown associated with care and management of the child. Despite various bills and advocacy groups in the United States to help poor pregnant women, abortion issues have continued to rise due to social challenges and influence. Unemployed women do not have robust medical insurance cards, which makes them prone to advancing abortion in the long-run perspective. According to Ellmann (2020), various States in the United States have continued to debate and offer viable alternatives to abortions, but financial incentives have continued to be an issue propelling abortion amongst vulnerable and poor women of color.
Secondly, rape is a sociological aspect that may lead to termination of pregnancy based on a variety of reasons ( Jayaweera et al., 2021). When a pregnancy results from a forced sexual act, the pregnancy may be legally terminated based on factual facts the victims offer the medical practitioners. In society, pregnancy resulting from rape may receive the backing of various groups and family members, hence leading to the abortion of the infant. In some cases, rape may not lead to a girl or woman becoming pregnant due to PreP medications, but when a Pro-Life girl remains silent over the issue, it may lead to pregnancy, and subsequently, abortion being backed by family members and other social groups attached to the girl’s life. Thirdly, abortion can be backed by serious ailments like cancer affecting the womb, and ailments resulting from the fetus. This scenario is life-threatening and necessitates medical practitioners to advance safe abortion procedures to save the life of the woman and infant. In some instances, the mother may die or vice versa, but it is usually anchored on consent forms signed by the family members and surgeon leading the abortion process. For example, if the woman or infant dies during the process, lawsuits will not affect the medical practitioner. Only surgical negligence may result to arrest and prosecution of the medical lead responsible for managing the entire abortion process as singed in the consent form.
Likewise, abortion may be aggravated by peer groups that have immoral and ignorant ideas based on rules and existing laws outlining the right procedures to undertake safe abortions. For example, if a young girl receives advice from her peers concerning how to abort, she might get tempted to terminate the pregnancy using unethical and unsafe processes that may result in adverse effects in the long run. The girl may end up using unhealthy pills that may result in fatalities and irreversible long-term effects. Moreover, peer pressure is also propelled by the presence of unregulated social media where even young girls access information concerning abortion and methods to terminate pregnancies. Such methods are not effective and safe as they are published by unregistered non-medical persons. Recently, there have been civil outcries by lobby groups and other women-led organizations championing the ban of abortion despite being legal in the United States. The #BanOffOurBodies recent Texas campaigns have received various judicial hindrances from the U.S Supreme Court and other abortion entities. Prager (2021) opined that the Texas law which was meant to prohibit abortions in Texas was turned down by the majority of Supreme Court judges. This judicial ruling has also placed abortion providers in Texas State in an awkward situation. For example, the new law prohibits abortion after pregnancy has reached six weeks.
In addition, the Texas law Supreme Court ruling was termed a ‘shadow-docket decision’ ( Prager, 2021). This ruling was never decided by benchmarking and referring to the 1973 Supreme Court ruling. Furthermore, this ruling risked the health of girls and women in Texas by minimizing their chances of getting emergency abortions in instances of chronic illness, mental and physical issues experienced by pregnant victims. Also known as the Senate Bill 8, the Texas law bans pregnancy-related abortions after the 6 th week, hence exposing the life of infants and mothers to extreme situations like injuries and mental health issues battled by the victims. Also, the ruling exposed many abortions health care facilities to bankruptcy and lawsuits. For example, if a Texas abortion clinic was entirely pegged on revenues accruing from abortions and related therapies, the law may dwindle the revenues for the said facilities in a long-run perspective. Patients who will be coming for abortion services may decrease due to the law, hence making the abortion facilities close. After the closure, some employees may lose their jobs, which can result in increased joblessness and mental health issues. According to Wollum et al. (2021), banning abortion may also result in negative impacts to an individual employee or the affected victim. This creates other adverse issue like depression and suicidal thoughts. Therefore, judicial corridors should assess the weight of abortion cases, in terms of their economic and emotional effect on the affected group of people.
Fourthly, drug and alcohol abuse is another social issue that might stimulate abortion from a certain group or individuals. Women who abuse drugs and alcohol are likely to make unsafe and immature decisions concerning their pregnancies compared to their mates who do not abuse drugs (Jayaweera et al., 2021). Ideally, drugs and alcohol impair with brain thinking segment, hence negatively affecting a person's urge to think perfectly based on the current situation. Drugs like Heroin and Cocaine make a woman adopt unhealthy lifestyle practices and choices like using abortion Pills and injections in trying to eliminate the pregnancy. Also, Cocaine makes a woman eat less, and have the urge to live, hence making unsafe decisions that can lead to eliminating the pregnancy using all available methods. According to the World Health Organization, women who drink excessively may cause miscarriage, premature birth, and stillbirth. Lastly, abortion may be caused by inadequate social support from the husband and other family members living with the pregnant girl or woman. A pregnant woman who does not have a husband is likely to abort compared to others who have supporting and present husbands (Zia et al., 2021).
In theoretical underpinnings, the teleological approaches provide prudent arguments concerning abortion and its effects on various groups. The theory opines that law enforcement agencies and medical practitioners should allow a fifteen-year-old desperate girl to undergo an abortion due to various circumstances ( Wollum et al., 2021) . In reality, a 15-year old is a school-going child who does not have the physical, mental, and emotional capability of caring for a nine-month pregnancy until she delivers. Furthermore, the theory claims that the aforementioned girl does not have the legality, and financial viability to manage the infant after delivering. On the other hand, the theory claims that a 35-year old woman should not be granted abortion access due to various reasons. Firstly, the woman is likely to have the right mental, physical and emotional well-being of caring for the pregnancy until she delivers. Also, the theory argues that a thirty-year-old woman is likely to have employment and financial capability of managing the baby after delivering. Therefore, this theory is informative and factual and should be adopted by all the stakeholders responsible for managing and advocating abortion bills and laws.
The U.S legislative history also provides a holistic blueprint that can be adopted by various stakeholders. Gale (2019) asserted that the U.S legislative history should be referenced and copied by the contemporary legislatures and various medical professionals handling and mitigating abortion and remedies to this social problem. For example, the 1967 U.S Act, provided a robust leeway for abortions processes in the United States. The Act lowered the term limits from 28 to 24 weeks based on medical assumptions and technological underpinnings. Based on this Act, a 28-week infant has grown enough, and aborting it is inhumane and illegal. Furthermore, the law restricted late abortions as it exposed the victim to long-term complications such as womb damage, inability to conceive, and stomach cancers. Also, the law prohibited late abortions in cases of fetal abnormality, risk of life, mental injury to the woman, and grave physical injuries. In 1973, abortion was legalized in the United States through legislative Acts and advocacies championed by a majority of the States. For example, in Roe v. Wade, the United States Supreme court affirmed the decision to legalize abortion.
Socially, abortions may cause short-term and long-term infective social well-being among the affected girls or women. Firstly, social stigma may befall the victim who has aborted due to societal perceptions of abortions ( Ellmann, 2020). Anti-abortion politicians and restrictive laws banning abortions like the Senate Bill 8 have continued to place abortion victims in awkward situations and trauma thereafter. The societal trauma on abortion enhances the chances of a victim woman to develop long-term emotional and mental issues such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. After an abortion, a woman should receive robust and holistic care from mental healthcare professionals and family support systems, but when they are neglected and left and ridiculed, it can lead to severe medical conditions, that necessitate prudent medical treatments and therapeutic measures. These measures also lead to financial distress felt by family and relatives of the affected victim. Therefore, allowing for legit abortions will solve this parody of stigma amongst girls and women who are victims of abortion in this contemporary world.
Secondly, abortion is indirect of murdering an innocent infant. In some countries, abortion is termed murder and makes the victims liable. But in the United States, the Anti-abortion politicians and restrictive laws have an ethical and moral background supporting their views about their aspiration of banning abortion. Ideally, abortions are unethical and unholy even in the Bible, Quran, and other religious books and scriptures. Legalizing abortion and implementing restrictive laws should be adopted by all U.S States, as it acts non-discriminatory. Zia et al. (2021) argued that unsafe abortions may lead to chronic womb infections that may result in long-term bareness. Infections happen when the abortion victim does not receive the right procedures, medication, management, and care from a registered and reputable healthcare professional that has specialized in safe abortion processes. The infection may also affect the victim's social well-being as they tend to seclude themselves from the public for the fear of being ridiculed and stigmatized by society. In addition, the infection may affect the victim financially and emotionally. A lot of money is usually required to manage and treat chronic stomach infections resulting from unsafe abortion processes (Wollum et al., 2021). Lastly, abortion may result in hormonal abnormalities which negatively affect a women's aspirations for future healthy pregnancies. In females, hormonal balance determines the prudence and promptness in which a woman becomes fertile and pregnant in the long-run perspective. Ideally, women who have frequent unsafe abortions have been linked to bareness due to extreme hormonal imbalance. Furthermore, women who do not conceive children have been found to have emotional turmoil’s in their lifespan compared to other women who have children (Zia et al., 2021).
Approaches to Address Abortion
Despite its prevalence and the continued debate on whether women or girls should have an abortion, there are other viable approaches and alternatives to remedy this social problem in the contemporary world. Gale. (2019) claimed that safe abortions enable pregnant women to choose different pain management strategies that can be adopted by the doctor to enhance a safe, holistic and painless abortion process. For example, the pain management approach entails the administration of local anesthesia, where the vagina is numbed, but the patient is made to be awake. Furthermore, the pain approach encompasses injecting the patient with 700miligrams of ibuprofen to act as a pain reliever during the entire procedure of abortion. Also, the approach may incorporate oral medication undertaken by the doctor to calm down the patient using the right medication, hence sedating the patient within the timeframe of the operation. Furthermore, heavy sedation strategies may entail the doctor using heavy sedating medications through intravenous injection (IV). The second approach is a suction abortion where it occurs mostly in the United States.
Moreover, according to U.S law, most legal abortions should be undertaken between the 12 th and 13 th week of the pregnancy. Therefore, suction abortion enables a doctor to use vacuum aspiration when performing the first-trimester safe abortion on a patient. Basically, under this approach, the cervix is not dilated or prepped, and it enables the doctor to use medical sticks which are sterilized and absorb moisture when they are inserted inside the cervix. When ready, the patient can be asked to lie on a pelvic examination table and an antiseptic solution is swapped inside the vagina and cervix. This allows the doctor to perform anesthesia to the cervix, hence numbing it and performing the abortion with ease. Another abortion approach during the second trimester is dilation and evacuation ( Jayaweera et al., 2021). This procedure is also abbreviated as D&E where it enables the doctor to prep or dilates the cervix to mitigate injury issues during the operation and thereafter. Moreover, the approach incorporates the use of misoprostol either administered through the vagina or the mouth of the patient, hence softening the uterus during the entire abortion process. Lastly, doctors may prescribe or offer long-term abortion to a patient depending on the seriousness of the underlying issue threatening the pregnancy. This procedure is only undertaken by professional doctors and it is done to save the fetus and a mother due to severe medical conditions or injuries.
In addition, there are other holistic and ethical alternatives to abortion, which minimizes fatalities, lawsuits, hormonal imbalances, and infections that result from safe and unsafe abortion processes. Firstly, adoption may minimize and eradicate unsafe abortions, where individuals or couples become legal parents of a child after being born. This happens when a girl or woman delivers a baby and gives away the baby to nursing homes. Secondly, the government and other civic groups should assist new mothers who are financially and emotionally unstable to take care of their patients, until they finish their schooling. Lastly, safe abortion is another alternative to abortion, where a certified and registered medical doctor terminates the pregnancy using viable and robust procedures, hence eliminating fatalities and injuries related to unsafe and secretive abortion processes.
In conclusion, the United States has continued to legalize abortion anchored on 1973, Supreme Court ruling. Despite its legality and relevance in most of the U.S States, abortions have led to the loss of lives, infections, hormonal imbalance, and mental health issues affecting the women victims. Pro-Life and Liberal Americans have had various views, concerning abortion, but it has received immense backing and criticism from various U.S geographical segments like Texas State. Moreover, society also plays an important role in determining the upsurge of abortion within certain population segments. In addition, abortion regardless of nature is the murder of an innocent human being, and it should be mitigated by the adoption of other healthy approaches like adoption, safe abortion, parenting, and support programs meant to help vulnerable and poor girls and women.
References
Ellmann, N. (2020). “State Actions Undermining Abortion Rights in 2020”. Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https://www.americanprogress.org
Gale. (2019). “Abortion.” Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection| gale. Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https:// www.gale.com
Jayaweera, R., Powell, B., Gerdts, C., Kakesa, J., Ouedraogo, R., Ramazani, U., Wado, Y. D., Wheeler, E., & Fetters, T. (2021). The Potential of Self-Managed Abortion to Expand Abortion Access in Humanitarian Contexts. Frontiers in Global Women’s Health , 2 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2021.681039
Prager, J. (2021). “Texas Has Turned Citizen Against Citizen Over Abortion. How Did We Get Here?.” Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https:// www.nytimes.com
Social Inequality Textbook
Wollum, A., Makleff, S., & Baum, S. E. (2021). Exploring Experiences Responding to the Individual Level Abortion Stigma Scale: Methodological Considerations From In-depth Interviews. Frontiers in Global Women’s Health , 2 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2021.678101
Zia, Y., Mugo, N., Ngure, K., Odoyo, J., Casmir, E., Ayiera, E., Bukusi, E., & Heffron, R. (2021). Psychosocial Experiences of Adolescent Girls and Young Women Subsequent to an Abortion in Sub-saharan Africa and Globally: A Systematic Review. Frontiers in Reproductive Health , 3 . https://doi.org/10.3389/frph.2021.638013
