Abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. It uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and placenta from the uterus. The procedure is done by a licensed physician or someone acting under the supervision of a licensed physician.
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The decision to end a pregnancy is very personal. If you are thinking of having an abortion, most healthcare providers advise counseling.
Who's having abortions (age)?
52% of women obtaining abortions in the U.S. are younger than 25: Women aged 20-24 obtain 32% of all abortions; Teenagers obtain 20% and girls under 15 account for 1.2%.
Who's having abortions (race)?
While white women obtain 60% of all abortions, their abortion rate is well below that of minority women. Black women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are roughly 2 times as likely.
Who's having abortions (marital status)?
64.4% of all abortions are performed on never-married women; Married women account for 18.4% of all abortions and divorced women obtain 9.4%.
Who's having abortions (religion)?
Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as "Born-again/Evangelical".
Who's having abortions (income)?
Women with family incomes less than $15,000 obtain 28.7% of all abortions; Women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999 obtain 19.5%; Women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999 obtain 38.0%; Women with family incomes over $60,000 obtain 13.8%.
Why women have abortions
1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient).
At what gestational ages are abortions performed:
52% of all abortions occur before the 9th week of pregnancy, 25% happen between the 9th & 10th week, 12% happen between the 11th and 12th week, 6% happen between the 13th & 15th week, 4% happen between the 16th & 20th week, and 1% of all abortions (16,450/yr.) happen after the 20th week of pregnancy.
Likelihood of abortion:
An estimated 43% of all women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they are 45 years old. 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion.
Types of abortion
Spontaneous abortion (also known as miscarriage) is the expulsion of an embryo or fetus due to accidental trauma or natural causes before approximately the 22nd week of gestation; the definition by gestational age varies by country. Most miscarriages are due to incorrect replication of chromosomes; they can also be caused by environmental factors. A pregnancy that ends before 37 weeks of gestation resulting in a live-born infant is known as a "premature birth". When a fetus dies in utero after about 22 weeks, or during delivery, it is usually termed "stillborn". Premature births and stillbirths are generally not considered to be miscarriages although usage of these terms can sometimes overlap.
Induced
A pregnancy can be intentionally aborted in many ways. The manner selected depends chiefly upon the gestational age of the embryo or fetus, which increases in size as it ages.Specific procedures may also be selected due to legality, regional availability, and doctor-patient preference. Reasons for procuring induced abortions are typically characterized as either therapeutic or elective. An abortion is medically referred to as therapeutic when it is performed to:
§ save the life of the pregnant woman
§ preserve the woman's physical or mental health
§ terminate pregnancy that would result in a child born with a congenital disorder that would be fatal or associated with significant morbidity or
§ selectively reduce the number of fetuses to lessen health risks associated with multiple pregnancy.
An abortion is referred to as elective when it is performed at the request of the woman "for reasons other than maternal health or fetal disease.
Women seeking to terminate their pregnancies sometimes resort to unsafe methods, particularly where and when access to legal abortion is restricted. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines an unsafe abortion as being "a procedure ... carried out by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment that does not conform to minimal medical standards, or both. Unsafe abortions are sometimes known colloquially as "back-alley" abortions. They may be performed by the woman herself, another person without medical training, or a professional health provider operating in sub-standard conditions. Unsafe abortion remains a public health concern due to the higher incidence and severity of its associated complications, such as incomplete abortion, sepsis, hemorrhage, and damage to internal organs.
Health risk
Physical health
Possible complications include hemorrhage, incomplete abortion, uterine or pelvic infection, ongoing intrauterine pregnancy, misdiagnosed/unrecognized ectopic pregnancy, hematometra (in the uterus), uterine perforation and cervical laceration.Use of general anesthesia increases the risk of complications because it relaxes uterine musculature making it easier to perforate.
Mental health
No scientific research has demonstrated that abortion is a cause of poor mental health in the general population. However there are groups of women who may be at higher risk of coping with problems and distress following abortion. Some factors in a woman's life, such as emotional attachment to the pregnancy, lack of social support, pre-existing psychiatric illness, and conservative views on abortion increase the likelihood of experiencing negative feelings after an abortion.
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posted in - Nation,
I thought we could start
off the week with a controversial topic. At the moment abortion is allowed in Malaysia only on medical grounds if the health of the mother is in jeopardy.
Three of six private clinics and maternity homes called at random to find out if they could perform an abortion said they could. And they all offered the same instructions.
The three said they could do it, two refused flat out and one recommended the general practitioner down the road.
A medical centre in Kuala Lumpur said it would cost about RM450 and could be done in half a day. The nurse promised there would be “no pain and no scars”, and that it would remain a secret.
Another clinic said the price would range from RM500 to RM700. The caller was asked to bring cash and her identity card.
The third place offering the abortion was a maternity centre in Perak with a more cautious approach.
“We’ll only do it if you’re less than two months pregnant. But the doctor must talk to you before we decide anything.”
An assistant at a centre in Negri Sembilan said it only performed such services on medical grounds, but she believed a nearby clinic would do it for RM300 to RM400.
“Next time, be more careful,” she said.
A nurse at a maternity clinic in the Klang Valley recalled how the doctor performed at least two abortions a day.
“Some patients walk in wearing school uniform, accompanied by their boyfriends,” said the nurse, who declined to be named.
The former nurse said those who came in were usually in their first trimester but there were a few cases in which the women were more than six months pregnant.
While it appears that more clinics are now doing illegal abortions, no doctor has been found guilty for want of evidence.
A doctor can be struck off the Malaysian Medical Council register if found guilty of gross misconduct.
The MMC has received complaints against doctors over the years but could not proceed with the case when the complaints were withdrawn.
“We also have difficulty getting the complainants to come forward and prove their allegation,” said MMC secretary Dr Wan Mazlan Mohamed Woojdy.
There was a case where the patient died after an abortion and the relatives filed a complaint with the council, only to withdraw it later.
“There is no protection of a Whistleblowers Act, so many withdraw their complaints,” he said.
Dr Ravindran Jegasothy, the chairman of the Malaysian Medical Association Ethics Committee, said there were doctors doing illegal abortions as there was a demand for it.
While the MMA does not condone illegal abortions, he said, it fears that restrictive laws may drive women to seek unsafe procedures at the hands of untrained people.
The three said they could do it, two refused flat out and one recommended the general practitioner down the road.
A medical centre in Kuala Lumpur said it would cost about RM450 and could be done in half a day. The nurse promised there would be “no pain and no scars”, and that it would remain a secret.
Another clinic said the price would range from RM500 to RM700. The caller was asked to bring cash and her identity card.
The third place offering the abortion was a maternity centre in Perak with a more cautious approach.
“We’ll only do it if you’re less than two months pregnant. But the doctor must talk to you before we decide anything.”
An assistant at a centre in Negri Sembilan said it only performed such services on medical grounds, but she believed a nearby clinic would do it for RM300 to RM400.
“Next time, be more careful,” she said.
A nurse at a maternity clinic in the Klang Valley recalled how the doctor performed at least two abortions a day.
“Some patients walk in wearing school uniform, accompanied by their boyfriends,” said the nurse, who declined to be named.
The former nurse said those who came in were usually in their first trimester but there were a few cases in which the women were more than six months pregnant.
While it appears that more clinics are now doing illegal abortions, no doctor has been found guilty for want of evidence.
A doctor can be struck off the Malaysian Medical Council register if found guilty of gross misconduct.
The MMC has received complaints against doctors over the years but could not proceed with the case when the complaints were withdrawn.
“We also have difficulty getting the complainants to come forward and prove their allegation,” said MMC secretary Dr Wan Mazlan Mohamed Woojdy.
There was a case where the patient died after an abortion and the relatives filed a complaint with the council, only to withdraw it later.
“There is no protection of a Whistleblowers Act, so many withdraw their complaints,” he said.
Dr Ravindran Jegasothy, the chairman of the Malaysian Medical Association Ethics Committee, said there were doctors doing illegal abortions as there was a demand for it.
While the MMA does not condone illegal abortions, he said, it fears that restrictive laws may drive women to seek unsafe procedures at the hands of untrained people.
The last point is moot – there would be women anyway who might seek abortion at the hands of untrained people and in doing so their lives are in danger.
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