ABORTION; Should we support or oppose??

Published in

Swastha Naari

5 min readOct 5, 2020

I remember I was once watching a TV program long back (around 12 years ago), the time when I did not have any knowledge about abortion except the fact that abortion is an act of terminating a pregnancy. The show portrayed the woman, as a very selfish wife who did not listen to her husband, who was continually denying her to abort. Later on, the woman was infertile in the entire show because of the one decision she took years back and could not conceive a child. I don’t remember much about the show, but this incident captured a small place in my brain for a very long time, and I kept believing that aborting a child makes women seem selfish and also, leads to infertility.

An abortion may occur spontaneously, also termed as miscarriage, and at times brought purposefully, often called as an induced abortion. Women perform induced abortions for reasons that fall into four general categories:

To preserve the life or physical or mental well-being of the mother.
To prevent the completion of a pregnancy that has resulted from rape or incest.
To prevent the birth of a child with a severe deformity, mental deficiency, or genetic abnormality.
To prevent a birth for social or economic reasons (such as the extreme youth of the pregnant female or the sorely strained resources of the family unit).

Besides, a contraceptive failure which leads to unintended pregnancy may also be an important cause for induced abortion, especially when the women are not ready to handle the responsibility of a child.

Concerns exist among females and their spouses if future pregnancies are possible after an abortion. Usually, abortion does not adversely affect the future possibility of getting pregnant, but the risk depends specifically on the type of elective abortion performed.
Medical abortion: Medication is taken in early pregnancy (up to 12 weeks of gestation) to abort the fetus. An elective medical abortion doesn’t appear to increase the risk of future pregnancy complications, as long as it’s done under the guidance of a good health care team.
Surgical abortion: This is a surgical procedure to remove the fetus from the uterus through the vagina. (Usually after 12 weeks of gestation) The process is typically done using suction, or an instrument called a curet. While many studies have shown that surgical abortion has a limited impact on future pregnancies, a 2015 review of multiple studies suggested a link between prior surgical abortion and a slightly increased risk of premature birth and low birth weight. Women who have multiple surgical abortions using a curet are at risk of scarring of the inner lining of the uterus (Asherman syndrome). This condition is associated with difficulty in becoming pregnant in the future.

Our society has always stigmatized abortion, especially in the patriarchal dominant South Asian countries. The decision on a woman’s body, her personal development, her livelihood, her participation in society has always been set up as a standard, and she is supposed to bound herself within those standards. In such circumstances, when a woman decides not to have a child because of her career or financial reasons, it is considered disgraceful. But with the time, people have started changing their concept about abortion. They have now begun to understand that if having a baby would dramatically interfere with a woman’s education, work, or ability to care for their dependents, or they could not afford a baby at the time, it’s better to abort a child and conceive later when they are fully ready and happy to handle the responsibility of a child.

But the abortion rights of women have been misinterpreted for sex-selective abortion in families where the male child is valued more than a female child. The term is specifically known as ‘female foeticide’ has increased since the legalization of abortion in Nepal in 2002. At least 50,000 abortions a year are performed after parents find out their unborn child is a girl where even gender identification of a child is illegal. It seems like the traditional concept of preferring a male child over a female child is prevalent only in the rural areas, but the fact appears to contrast thoroughly. The desire for boys is even more vital in urban areas. The Nepal demographic health survey in 2011 found that the number of gender-based abortions in towns was twice as high as in rural areas. It has become a lubricating source of revenue for many private hospitals and clinics, and some carry out the procedure without a license, which makes many abortions both illegal and unsafe. Unsafe abortion highly increases the rate of maternal mortality. Sex-selective abortion is sometimes the result of families pressurizing the woman to have a boy, and excessive termination has even lead to divorce and polygamy in many cases. Sex-selective abortion doesn’t support the abortion rights of women as it is done for a different and illegal cause.

Even though abortion was legalized in Nepal in 2002, the majority of the population doesn’t know the importance of abortion law and is taken wrongfully. Even when females decide to abort, many women continue to face barriers to obtaining safe and legal procedures. Obstacles include lack of awareness of the legal status of abortion, lack of services, lack of transport to approved facilities, gender norms that hinder women’s decision-making autonomy, the often-prohibitive cost of the procedure and fear of abortion-related stigma. What needs to be known is abortion is an entirely a woman’s right to her reproductive health and the legal status of abortion in Nepal is something that should be aware of to every female. Also, for legislative action to be effective, local governments and NGOs must make a prolonged and concerted effort to combat the problems around this issue. Without the devotion of time and energy, laws and free services go unheard, unread, and unused.

REFERENCES:

4. “Is abortion legal in Nepal? Many Nepali women don’t know the answer.” by Tara Todras-Whitehill https://link.medium.com/h1gyIK2Ybab

ABORTION; Should we support or oppose??

Written by Shreya Dhungana