Abortion is always going to be a contentious subject, with those on each side of the argument for and against feeling completely sure that they are right. Of course, as with anything in this world, nothing is quite as clear cut as it might seem at first, and there are many facts about abortion that it’s useful to know before you make up your mind one way or the other, assuming that’s what you want to do. We’ve put together some useful abortion facts to give people a better idea of what it means and the truth behind the rumors. Read on to find out more.
Abortion Is More Common Than You Might Think
Although you might initially think that abortion is a rare occurrence, perhaps because you’ve never had one or you don’t know anyone who has, the truth is that around 30 percent of women in the US will have had one abortion before the age of 45. So why does everyone feel the figures are much lower?
The likelihood is that because abortion is often stigmatized, women don’t tend to talk about it. Therefore, it’s quite possible that you do know someone who has been through the procedure, and they just haven’t told you about it. Of course, a woman’s body is her own, and if she doesn’t want to talk about her abortion, then she doesn’t have to, but since having this procedure can be an emotional experience, removing the stigma and allowing women to be freer to discuss their thoughts and feelings will certainly help to improve the mental health of those who would otherwise feel they had to stay silent.
Abortion Is A Safe Procedure
If you have the idea in your head that abortion is a dangerous procedure and that many women die each year because of it, you won’t be thinking of the very safe and highly sanitary abortion clinic Sydney and others around the world. You would be thinking instead of so-called ‘backstreet abortions’ that are done illegally using improper methods and dirty equipment. Those are dangerous. However, an abortion in a safe clinic with medical professionals taking part in the procedure is very safe; the figures from the CDC show that for every 100,000 legal abortions that take place, less than one person dies because of it. To put that in perspective, almost 16 women out of every 100,000 die during childbirth.
Of course, abortion is a medical procedure, and there are always risks associated with any kind of surgery, and there are certain risk factors that can make an abortion more dangerous, such as how far the pregnancy has progressed and the health of the woman. However, in general terms, abortion is a safe procedure that is unlikely to cause death or harm anyone’s fertility.
Abortion Is Not Something Everyone Regrets
Sometimes women who have chosen to have an abortion do regret their choice. However, this is not the case for everyone, and many women are glad that they had the procedure. No matter what the reason for deciding that an abortion was the correct choice for them, the fact that there are safe, clean, professional abortion clinics that will carry out the procedure and help with any aftercare that is required is something a lot of women are grateful to have access to.
The choice to have an abortion might be difficult, and there will be many factors that need to go into the decision. However, once it is done, regret won’t come into it if it was the right decision. The woman will be healthy and happy and able to have a family when her health and her relationship are better. Yes, some women will have regrets, but the majority tend not to.
Abortions Aren’t Just for Childfree Women
When you think of a woman who wants to have an abortion, you might imagine that she is childfree, perhaps single, perhaps focused on her career, or someone who wants to travel around the world or whatever else might come to mind. What you possibly wouldn’t think of is a mother with one or more children at home. Surely if she already has one child – or more than one child – having another wouldn’t be problematic, and an abortion wouldn’t be required?
The truth is that some of the women who choose to have abortions do already have children. Or they might know they definitely want children in the future. However, sometimes circumstances at the time mean that a child right now would be a mistake, which would lead to regret. Every woman is different, and every decision is made for specific and personal reasons; there is no particular ‘type’ of woman who chooses to have an abortion, and anyone who does is certainly not automatically a ‘child hater’.
Many people immediately assume that an abortion will be carried out on a woman who finds that she is pregnant and doesn’t want to be for whatever reason. However, some abortions are performed on women who were desperate to become pregnant, were happy to find they were, and then received bad news about their child or their relationship or their own health or anything else that changes things. This is why abortion is always such a personal choice.
Abortion Doesn’t Mean You Are Irresponsible
We’ve talked about the ‘stereotypical’ woman who might want an abortion – or rather, the idea that many people have of who this is – and we’ve explained that those stereotypes are not helpful and, most importantly, not true some of the time. So, although the idea persists that anyone who needs to have an abortion must be irresponsible and reckless, ‘sleeping around’ and not using any protection, this is not how it always is. Of course, this is the case for some women who require an abortion, but this does not make them bad people, and it doesn’t mean it is fair to label all women who ask for an abortion in the same way.
For some women, women who are generally very responsible, perhaps those who are careful with birth control or who have a steady, monogamous relationship, abortion is still something they feel is necessary. Missing a pill without even realizing it, not noticing if a condom breaks, miscalculating when your fertile time is, can all lead to pregnancy, and are all mistakes that anyone can make – we’re all human, after all.
There will always be people who say that if you don’t want to get pregnant, you shouldn’t have sex, but that would be denying an integral part of human behavior, relationships, love, and so on. Taking precautions is important, just as sex is important, but nothing is one hundred percent safe, and this is why some abortions take place. It’s not recklessness, and it’s not irresponsible. Sometimes choosing to have an abortion is the responsible option, after all.
Abortion Is Not Birth Control
Some of those who are against abortion dislike it because they feel women use it as a form of birth control at the expense of the fetus. In reality, it is highly unlikely that a woman would choose to forego all the other birth control methods, including taking the contraceptive pill, having a coil inserted, or using condoms because their favored method of birth control was to book in for an abortion.
Abortions are surgical procedures, and they take some time to recover from. They are not a ‘quick and easy’ fix, as some might think. It’s far easier and less expensive to have a partner wear a condom or take a pill each day than it is to find out you’re pregnant and request an abortion. Plus, don’t forget that there are restrictions placed on abortions depending on which state (or which country) you happen to be in, meaning that they really wouldn’t be a reliable contraception method.
Abortions Aren’t Something All Pro-Choice People Would Choose
There are, as you may know, two camps when it comes to abortion. Pro-life people dislike abortion and feel that all babies should be born. Pro-choice people agree with abortion in theory and feel that it is the woman’s right to choose what she does, whether that’s to have an abortion or continue with the pregnancy.
Interestingly, although you might assume that pro-choice people would always choose to have an abortion if the need arose, this is not the case. The key word here is ‘choice’. For pro-lifers, there is no choice; the baby must be born. Pro-choice people wouldn’t necessarily ever choose an abortion for themselves, but that doesn’t mean they don’t think other women should be able to choose, even if the result is something they fundamentally disagree with. It’s an interesting dynamic, and it just does show how emotional and complex the subject of abortion can be.
Equally, pro-life people may choose to have an abortion at some point, even if they think they never would. Anything can happen in life, and you might have one particular view for years, decades even, until one thing happens that makes you reassess and rethink.
Abortion Doesn’t Cause the Fetus Pain
In the vast majority of cases, the fetus will feel absolutely no pain during the abortion. This is because the part of the brain responsible for pain receptors doesn’t develop until late on in the pregnancy, and most abortions are carried out during the first and second trimesters.
In the interests of fairness, however, around 1.4 percent of abortions are carried out after this time, during the period in which the pain receptors may have developed.
Abortion Is Legal
In the US, abortion is legal. It is this black and white, which is unusual for something that raises such high emotions in people. What might surprise you is that it was only in 1973, thanks to the decision made in Roe v. Wade, that this occurred. Legal abortion is a good thing; simply making the procedure illegal would not prevent it from happening. All that would happen is that women who wanted an abortion would go to an illegal clinic and run the risk of the procedure going wrong and causing infection, infertility, or even death. Making abortion illegal would make it dangerous but wouldn’t stop it.
However, that doesn’t mean that abortion is legal in quite the same way across all US states. Many states have banned abortion after 20 weeks, for example, and there are plenty of other restrictions too. Some politicians in Oklahoma want to make it law that all doctors who perform abortions are criminalized for it (so far, this has not had any success). This is because abortion is such a contentious issue. Although all states allow abortion in some form, it’s best to check where you are and what the rules are if you feel you need one, to make sure you are fully in line with the law.
Abortion Is Not A Money-Making Industry
When abortions were illegal, before 1973, doctors would be paid a lot of money to perform them. It was a risk for the woman, of course, but if the doctor was found out, they would lose their medical license and could spend time in prison. So, they charged a lot for the procedure to be done. This might be where the idea that doctors who perform abortions and abortion clinics, in general, are money-making, and that this is why so many abortions are performed. In other words, it’s good for the doctors to carry them out.
This is not the truth of it. Although you will have to pay for an abortion, any doctor will know that it is only a fraction of the cost that you will pay if you have the baby. Birth costs many tens of thousands of dollars and abortions are nowhere near that. If money were the force behind this industry, doctors would encourage women not to have abortions rather than give them a choice by furnishing them with all the facts.