Abortion due to complications is the leading cause of death in mostly developing countries. There are many issues surrounding abortion, some of which are: Do women have the sole responsibility of their body? How can the state help so that problems arising to abortions will be solved? Is it the responsibility of the state to provide these services to women? Should the state makes it an illegal activity? Are there justifications for abortions?

Why do we need to prevent abortions, because many women die of unsupervised abortion which cause complications leading to death.

There are two types of abortion spontaneous and induced, spontaneous is the termination of a fetus without any deliberate effort to end a pregnancy while induced abortion is the opposite of that. I am going to discuss about the latter, induced abortion and how it could be avoided in the first place.

In some parts of the world and other states in the United States abortion is illegal, and according to the United Nations Millennium Development Goal, maternal mortality rate (MMR) due to abortion should be reduced in the next ten years. Usually countries who are poorer have high deaths due to abortion than countries which are more developed.

Now the question, should the state provide abortion? The state usually provides abortion services because they say that women do it anyway, why not make it safer for them?

Usually when women in poorer countries resort to unsafe abortion, they do activities such as jumping in a high place, going to an untrained and unlicensed provider, by use of a catheter, drinking concoctions etc. Some doctors which are licensed could be practicing illegal abortions too.

Are there justifications for abortion? I don’t think there are justifications for abortion except when the mothers life is in danger. Reasons cited for abortions are: pregnancy is out of rape, due to incest, health of the mother, father unknown and financial reasons.

Tips to avoid abortion in the first place:

1. Plan on how many children you are going to have, Taking into consideration emotional, financial and physical capability of both parents
2. Plan on when you are going to have that child
3. Take contraception if you don’t want to get pregnant to avoid risk specially during abortion complications
4. Empower women so that they will have a say whether their partner will have contraception if they cant use one
5. Educate women so that they have self confidence and have more power to decide for themselves
6. Inculcate the value of life to the youth most specially at home. Set a good example for your children
7. Sexuality and education must be inculcated into the curriculum so that as young as they are, they already know the mechanics of the reproductive system and their importance.

Try to answer the question below (Reasons for abortion)

Would you approve of abortion if:

1. The mothers life is in danger Y N
2. If pregnancy is due to incest Y N
3. If pregnancy is due to rape Y N
4. Financial reasons Y N
5. Father is unknown Y N
6. Child will be born with defect? Y N
7. Many children already Y N