Free abortion research papers

essays against abortion

Abortion cases seldom come to the attention of law enforcement authorities except when death or hospitalization results. But since both dangers are always present, individual practitioners are often reluctant to take a chance and risk discovery, even when they are sympathetic to the woman's request. They are particularly reluctant to act when they can pass on the responsibility for decision to a hospital board, thus demonstrating to the patient a desire to help but running no personal risk. Of course the case of a woman whose application seems justified but has no chance of approval by a board, or who has already been turned down by such a board, continues to pose serious ethical dilemmas for doctors.

essays against abortions

One of the great dangers of severely limiting the performance of hospital abortions is that many women will themselves attempt to terminate their pregnancies. To some, self-induced abortion may seem a less shameful and frightening way of solving their problem than visiting a criminal abortionist. In other cases, lack of funds or knowledge of just where to turn may lead the woman to attempt the abortion herself. Although the popular press frequently paints a lurid picture of the professional abortionist and his activities, many women are probably unaware of the greater dangers involved in self-induced abortion. Such techniques as severe exercise, hot baths, falls down stairs, and manipulation of the abdomen are rarely successful in accomplishing their purpose unless undertaken so vigorously that they also seriously endanger the life of the woman herself.

free abortion research papers

Various observers have also noted that the unmarried woman stands much less chance of obtaining a therapeutic abortion than the married one. This is not surprising, given the prevailing outlook on unmarried mothers. Not only does the social definition of their condition as "shameful" deter such women from seeking hospital help, but if they do seek such help the likelihood is they won't get it. Most-hospital abortion boards will be extremely wary of granting abortions in any cases where the primary indication is nothing more than the humanitarian one of avoiding unwed motherhood.

free research papers on abortion

It is obviously very difficult to estimate the number of attempts at self-induced abortion. There is reason to believe that successful self-induction represents only a very small proportion of completed abortions. The Kinsey study of over 650 induced abortions noted that only 8-10 per cent were self-induced. It also revealed that few women deliberately attempted to injure themselves (by falling downstairs or by having somone hit them in the abdomen) in order to produce an abortion. In all the reported illegal abortions (self-induced and other) drugs effected the termination in only about 9 per cent of the cases, although there were, in many instances, unsuccessful attempts at drug-induced abortion before resorting to an operation.

research papers about abortion

The evaluation of self-induced abortion is complicated by the fact that, according to much medical evidence, the woman who with any real ease induces her own abortion often could have been likely to abort spontaneously anyway. The Kinsey researchers refer to a particularly confused category of cases among Negro women of the lowest socioeconomic group, a high percentage of whom reported successful abortions through the drinking of such substances as water in which rusty nails had been soaked, ginger tea, turpentine, and laundry blue. Generally, in determining whether an abortion was really self-induced rather than spontaneous, the researchers went along with the woman's interpretation of the event.

research papers on abortion

If relatively few attempts at self-induced abortion are successful, it does not follow that such attempts are not frequent. Many of the cases in which women enter hospitals because of complications from an attempted or completed abortion appear to have involved selfinduction. This group includes not only those women whose intention it is to abort themselves, but also those who simply try to induce bleeding or other symptoms which would justify or require surgical completion of the abortion. One doctor, reporting on some New York cases, noted that three quarters or more of seventy abortions reported to the legal authorities were self-induced.

thesis about abortion

It is unfortunate that the Kinsey study dealt mainly with cases of completed abortion, and hence threw only indirect light on the question of attempted self-abortion. At the very least, however, one can confidently say that women frequently attempt self-abortion before resorting to an illegal operation. Data from the study suggest that such attempts may be especially likely among women of lower socioeconomic status. Given the dangers inherent in self-induced abortion, and its evident relation to the availability of other (legal and illegal) abortion opportunities, it is clear that prevailing abortion policy discriminates most severely against those unwillingly pregnant women whose situations are the most distressing.

persuasive essays on abortions

It is well-known that the physician who for one reason or another has lost his license to practice medicine, and the foreign-trained doctor who experiences difficulty in being admitted to practice in this country, may be especially likely to turn to an illegal abortion practice. There are also trained physicians who drift into illegal abortion work gradually, usually beginning with the performance of abortions as favors to their legitimate patients. Some physicians simply enter the field because of the lure of easy money. 39 It is sometimes suggested that there are special psychological reasons which propel a given physician into abortion practice, but the substantiation of such claims appears rather meager.

1 corinthians essay topics

Since the writing of I Corinthians, St Paul had had to deal with a very serious crisis in the Church of Corinth, in which his Apostolic authority had been opposed, questioned, and by some scornfully denied, and he had sent Titus to Corinth to deal with the difficulty and reduce the rebellious persons to submission (ii. 13, vii. 6, 7, 13-15). About the success of this enterprise of Titus the Apostle was intensely anxious. He left Ephesus for Troas, hoping that Titus would return from Corinth and meet him there, and in Troas he found an opening for missionary work.

1 corinthians suggested essay topics

Not all of the questions are of equal importance, but hardly any of them can be set aside as trivial.

• Did Timothy, who had been sent to Corinth before 1 Corinthians was written (see on 1 Cor. xvi. 10), and was with St Paul when 2 Corinthians was written (2 Cor. i. 1.), reach Corinth and was unsuccessful there? Or did he return to St Paul without having reached Corinth? If he reached Corinth, did he leave before 1 Corinthians arrived?
• How long an interval was there between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians? See on 2 Cor. viii. 10, ix. 2.