In general, when asking what is abortion you will receive the following answer: Abortion is the medical procedure used to end a pregnancy. But this is not always true. There are a lot of cases when an abortion occurs. Let’s go back to the older times. Several hundreds of years ago, the abortion was not a medical process. Women who did not wanted a child but who were pregnant had to go to different “specialized” persons in order to terminate a pregnancy. (Notice that I have used the term “terminate”. Usually, an abortion is referred to as a “pregnancy termination”).
These specialized people were in several cases real doctors. But this was a rare case because abortion was illegal. Other specialized persons in abortion were doulas. Doula refers to a person (in almost all the cases a woman) that assists the future mothers in childbirth related things including labor, childbirth itself and after childbirth. These experienced women knew the woman body very well and some of them helped pregnant women to end or to terminate a pregnancy. Because this was an illegal activity, doulas usually asked large sums of money to perform abortions. Often, these abortions created a lot of pain for the pregnant women and in some cases even death. After a lot of disputes the act of abortion was accepted as legal in many countries.
What is abortion: Types
Now, in our days there are several types of abortion. One type of abortion is known as “therapeutic abortion”. This abortion is performed when the life of the pregnant woman is endangered by the pregnancy. Also, this kind of abortion is performed if after medical investigations the results will show a high risk for the baby to have severe genetic problems or that after birth he will have a fatal disease.“Selective abortion” This term refers to abortions that appear as a personal choice. These abortions usually do not need any medical reason. A common case for elective abortion is that of young women. These young women get pregnant even though they do not want a child and in some cases they choose the abortion. This abortion may cause for these young women psychical problems like depression or a high sensation of guilt. Abortions are performed usually in the first 13 weeks of the pregnancy but late term abortion is possible also.
Miscarriage or “spontaneous abortion” is another type of abortion. This abortion refers to the termination of a pregnancy by accidental means or as a result of natural causes. This type of abortion is different from the other two because is this case the abortion happens without medical intervention. A spontaneous abortion may appear after getting injured in a car accident for example or, a common case – if the pregnant woman falls down the stairs. Another cause for the miscarriage is that when the pregnant woman suffers a strong emotional shock. What is abortion will depend of the types or values of a person.
Few People Readily Choose…
…to have an abortion. But when facing an unplanned or medically challenged pregnancy they may feel there is no alternative.
The pressure of their circumstances may seem overwhelming. There is often a lack of support during this time of distress. Women, men and families can feel very alone and do not always know where to turn for help.
If you know someone who needs after abortion help, please refer them to our toll free number (1-866-4-My-Recovery) or our online CAREDirectory, by clicking the arrow to the right. If someone is considering an abortion, please have them click here! Considering Abortion
Remember … Abortion effects families!
To understand how women can be affected by abortion….and the effects of after-abortion trauma, one must first understand Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Victims of PTSD are said to have “experienced, witnessed, or were confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others, and the person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror.”
Events that typically trigger PTSD include: war, rape, witnessing a murder, being a victim of a violent crime, or surviving the devastations of an earthquake or hurricane. For the woman, or man, who has had an abortion, it is the loss of their unborn child.
While abortion is perceived by our society as being an acceptable option to giving birth, most women, at some deep level of their being, realize that abortion is an act against nature, and must “shut down” any maternal instincts they may have in order to carry through with an abortion. After the abortion is over, many women are unable to reconcile the fact that they were responsible for the death of their child, and struggle for years with unresolved feelings of guilt and grief.
These women usually struggle with their grief in isolation, and rarely feel free to discuss their abortion experiences with others for fear that they will be condemned or abandoned by those close to them. While many women around the world are suffering from PAS, most believe that they are alone in their pain – that their negative experience with abortion is unusual or unique – thus compounding their feelings of loneliness and isolation.
When a woman does seek help, or attempts to talk to her friends and family about her experience, she is often met with resistance and a lack of understanding. Counselors, abortion providers, doctors and peers may all tell the woman that she needs to put her experience behind her, or get on with her life.
However well meaning their advice may be, a woman struggling with negative feelings after an abortion will find that her feelings will not disappear no matter how hard she tries to forget them. Rather, they often lead to a dysfunctional life style. The woman will simply go on with her life never knowing how to overcome the negative, self-destructive behaviors that become a way of life for victims of PTSD.
PTSD – SUPPORT LINES INTERNATIONAL
There are a lot of people who disagree with the idea of abortion. Actually, worldwide, the majority o people disagree with idea of abortion. But when talking about abortion they think mostly at the elective abortion, the type of abortion done without any other reason than the will. A lot of people consider this type of abortion should be forbidden by law. They consider that the situation when someone gets pregnant could be easily avoided if that person does not want a child. Their point of view is strong considering that today modern medicine and science provide a lot of anti-pregnancy means. This is a true fact that a lot of contraceptive methods exist and that they are widely accessible to a large category of persons. The usage of contraceptive methods could reduce a lot the number of abortions. This is the general opinion.
The same people that condemn elective abortion are fine with the idea of therapeutic abortion. They consider that if some severe problems are detected on the fetus, on the early stage of the pregnancy, a therapeutic abortion is not to blame. The same situation is applied when the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life.
One major reason for why abortion is considered a bad thing is the religion. Major religions worldwide are against abortion and consider the act of abortion as a murder. Religious persons consider abortion as a murder because they consider the fetus a human being from the first second of conception.
Other persons consider that even though the fetus has living cells we cannot call him a human being. They say that fruits have also living cells and we have no problems in eating them.
In closing, the one pathway we can all choose to take as a woman, is that of compassion. Whether agreed or disagreed, required or chosen, the ending of a life is always an emotional and spiritual experience. As women, we must all be supportive to each other.
Information here has been partially provided by Whatisanabortion.org
* This post has been shared for ‘educational’ purposes only, as A Celebration of Women™ does not have any opinion.
Considering an Abortion ~ Affects & Effects
July 13, 2012 by
