Guest Author - Rebecca Orczeck
Sencia was a hilot (local midwife) outside of Cebu City, Philippines until 4 months ago. After performing a “massage” on a pregnant woman in her village, causing her to miscarry her baby, she was put in jail. She wasn’t jailed for malpractice; she was convicted of inducing an abortion. The formerly pregnant woman was also imprisoned.
Predominantly Catholic, the Philippine Islands have banned all abortion, except that which saves the life of the mother. Yet there are an average of 470,000 abortions induced annually.
Filipinas do not have the same socio-political climate as we do in the United States. There is no taxi service to public abortion clinics, judicial waivers, or counseling sessions. If you are caught having an abortion in the Philippines, it’s against the law and you are thrown in jail – plain and simple.
Of the women who are successful in inducing their own abortions, many go to great – and often grotesque – lengths to achieve their goal. Most of them take some form of anti-clotting or aspirin-related drugs, to induce bleeding. Some drink incredible quantities of alcohol. When all else fails, they throw themselves down flights of stairs or beat on their stomachs, with the “help” of a local midwife… others self-catheter their vaginas. All of these violent practices greatly endanger the mother as well; it’s shocking that a woman would harm herself like that for an abortion.
I’m not detailing this because I think pregnant Filipinas should have it cushy like we do in the States. No way! I believe just the opposite: The Unites States needs to outlaw abortion, now. I’m amazed at how desperate we are, as a civilization, to kill unborn babies and end inconvenient pregnancies. It is stunning that the world feels so entitled to its desires and personal gain that we have huge social movements trying to protect murder on demand. Think hard about that. Murder on demand – on a worldwide scale.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art52823.asp
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
In a religious country like Costa Rica, abortion rights are restricted to cases where the mother´s life is in danger (Abortion Laws, Women on Waves), but rape victims are not considered to have this right, even if that mother is almost a baby herself and her life may be in danger due to this pregnancy. Under Costa Rican laws induced abortion has been included in the crimes against life since 1970, and if a doctor suspects that a woman has had an abortion he or she is required to report it to the authorities, otherwise they can also face criminal charges. Punishment varies depending on whether the woman consented or not to the procedure or if the fetus is six months ' gestation at the time. This is a very emotional subject that leads to passionate and…
- 1413 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
Secondly, according to Daniel R. Mishell, Jr., MD – Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Southern California –, women were employing “coat hangers or knitting needles or radiator flush to induce abortions”, before professionally-performed abortions were legalized in 1976 (Morrison, par. 7). Indeed, while 39 maternal deaths from illegal abortions were reported in the United States through 1972, abortion-related deaths declined to two by 1976. However, according to The World Health Organization, unsafe “abortions induce nearly 68,000 women deaths worldwide each year”, mainly in emergent countries, since professional services are practically inaccessible and abortions are socially not accepted due to misconceptions…
- 334 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
We do abortions here; that is all we do. There are weary, grim moments when I think I cannot bear another basin of bloody remains, utter another kind phrase of reassurance. So I leave the procedure room in the back and reach for a new chart. Soon I am talking to an eighteen-year-old woman pregnant for the fourth time. I push up her sleeve to check her blood pressure and find row upon row of needle marks, neat and parallel and discolored. She has been so hungry for her drug for so long that she has taken to using the loose skin of her upper arms; her elbows are already a permanent ruin of bruises. She is surprised to find herself nearly four months pregnant. I suspect she is often surprised, in a mild way, by the blows she is dealt. I prepare myself for another basin, another brief and chafing loss.…
- 3792 Words
- 16 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Although less than one percent of abortions happen due to rape or incest, forty percent of unintended pregnancies end in abortion, but twenty one percent of all pregnancies end in abortions. Abortions happen for many different reasons such as inadequate finances, they are not ready for responsibility, their life may change too much, they might have problems with relationships, or they may be too young or immature, so these really need to be taken into consideration when hearing that a woman had an abortion. With that in mind, people do not understand why a woman has an abortion, but they should definitely find out the reason and understand where she is coming from. Even though some mothers have given an explanation as to why they have had the abortion, most people could say that the child never had a chance to live their life and people get scared by the process of abortion. “Your cervix (womb entrance) will be dilated (widened) to make accessing your womb easier. A tablet may be placed inside your vagina a few hours before the abortion to soften your cervix and make it easier to open. Sometimes, an alternative ‘preparing’ tablet is given by mouth. A small, plastic suction tube connected to a pump will then be inserted into your womb and used to remove the fetus,” The sound of this procedure does…
- 993 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
“Women often tried to induce abortion or causing a miscarriage by throwing themselves down stairs or inflicting violence on themselves (When abortion was illegal, 2005). Even though some people are convinced that aborting a fetus is an act of killing and abortion should be illegal, they forget that raising an “unwanted” child can later harm the child’s physical, emotional and psychological well- being as the mother is stressed and not content being a mom and sees her child as a…
- 300 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Every year around forty two million women choose to get an abortion and nearly half of these procedures are unsafe, due to the countries having restrictive abortion laws. There are seventy thousand maternal deaths and five million maternal disabilities per year globally, because woman resort to harmful abortions. These abortions are performed by individuals…
- 490 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
You may ask yourself, “Who are getting these abortions? Where are they having them done? Or even, why are they getting them done?”…
- 1021 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
Abortion is defined as the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo, resulting in its death. About 42 million abortions are performed worldwide each year, and an astounding 20 million of them occurring unsafely. These unsafe abortions result in 70,000 deaths and 5 million disabilities a year. Most abortions are performed in the first twelve weeks using the ‘vacuum’ method. The majority of women that choose abortion do so because they are not ready for motherhood, are concerned with their careers or education, or have an issue with maintaining financial or relationship stability. Abortion is legal in the United States and most of Europe. Yet in most African and South American countries, it is illegal, with the exception for maternal life, physical and mental health and in Africa, rape. All of these factors make abortion one of the most controversial social justice issues. On one hand, it prevents unfit women from becoming mothers and possibly sparing pain for themselves and their babies. Yet the act of abortion itself is what most people struggle to accept. The removal of a fetus from a mother’s womb and the ending of a human life is seen as murder by many. There is no easy solution to the issue of abortion because it is excruciatingly difficult to weigh the importance of an unborn child’s life and success against your own, and millions of women struggle with this every day.…
- 1150 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
There is all kinds of reasons an abortion can be performed. The main reason is if the women’s health is at risk, but some women take advantage of it and use it as a form of birth control. Early medical abortions are limited to the first 9 weeks of pregnancy that is if it is done legally. There are places that will do it illegally and do it all the way into the third trimester of pregnancy. A lot of young girls turn to places like that because of the need of consent of a parent.…
- 385 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Abortions remain legal in the United States but in some countries such as Bermuda are still illegal. Therefore, women may travel to America to have this procedure done. Ed Edelson, reporter for Health Day states, “Survey estimated 41.6 million abortions a year are carried out globally” (“Abortion Number Fall Worldwide”). Today in the United States alone 1,300,000 abortions happen annually. According to Post Abortion Healing and Help, “By the age of forty- five, two out of every five women has had an abortion” (Post Abortion Healing, 1). With that being said it is likely that everyone knows someone that has one.…
- 1531 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays -
"Abortion in Context: United States and Worldwide. (Issues in Brief)." Readings on Induced Abortion. Ed. Stanley K. Henshaw, et al. Vol. 2: A World Review 2000. New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2001. 57+. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Apr. 2015…
- 556 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Personally, I think that any form of abortion is tantamount to murder, and should never be permitted. This article only brings to my attention that women who wish to have abortions are only concerned for themselves, as the argument is based upon the health of the woman. Although the author’s argument may be valid concerning some facets of the issue, I believe the focus of the subject should shift from the mother to the living creature inside and its right to…
- 434 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
1.21 million women get abortions in the US each year (BMC Women’s Health). Many factors contribute to this, including timing, health of mother and/or fetus, and the ability to provide a quality life. Abortion procedures will be performed differently, depending on the duration of the pregnancy. Further complications could also lead to a different type of procedure being performed. Abortion, in America, was not a legal practice until 1973, in the ‘Roe v. Wade’ case (Abortion Wars). The abortion process is very complex, with many details and sides, and women should have the right to it, and their life.…
- 620 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Unsafe abortion is a growing issue that does extreme damage to women’s health. “Every year, about 19–20 million abortions are done by individuals without the requisite skills, or in environments below minimum medical standards, or both.”. (Grimes et al. 1) How harmful is unsafe…
- 903 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Did you know that in the America there are four thousand abortions a day? The second highest rate in the world! In America we have the right between having an abortion or taking the responsibility to use birth control. In the twentieth century technological advantages has brought American to change their point of view in a major legal dispute.…
- 1446 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays