Is Abortion Beneficial or Harmful To a Teenager?

Introduction
A pregnancy can be terminated through abortion before its due date. It is the removal of an embryo or foetus from the mother’s uterus before the expected birth date. Abortion, also known as spontaneous abortion, can be either induced or result from pregnancy difficulties. If the pregnant woman’s health is in danger or for other reasons, it may be induced. The term “abortion” is typically used to describe induced abortions rather than spontaneous ones.

Numerous procedures have been employed throughout the extremely long history of abortion. Some of the traditional techniques used by medicine men in the past included the use of sharp items. We now employ medication and surgical treatments because approaches have improved. Varied communities and races have different perspectives on abortion.
Abortion is a medical treatment that is prohibited and subject to legal punishment in many nations.

Some countries have gone as far as to legalise it, allowing their citizens to engage in it freely. However, the majority of countries consider it to be unlawful, unethical, and unreligious. The majority of Christian and Muslim countries believe that everyone has the right to life and that this right should not be denied. They contend that abortion is murder and shouldn’t be permitted in any situation. Others counter that the mother has the complete right to decide whether to keep the pregnancy going until it is due or to end it.

When a teenager is involved, things get even more complex. These are individuals who are still in education and have not yet fulfilled their life goals. Most adolescent pregnancies are the result of ignorance, while some are the result of rape. Interfering with these youngsters’ personal lives would be equivalent to denying them the right to decide whether or not to have an abortion. Although some of them may go beyond what the parent can even hope for, it is true that parents, teachers, and the community have a responsibility to protect teenagers by offering them guidance and a good education.

The question of what will happen to these youngsters’ futures remains, regardless of how they should be permitted to deal with the repercussions of their behaviour. According to statistics, more than 33% of all teen pregnancies end in abortion.

Compared to older teenagers, this rate is much higher among younger adolescents. Compared to females over the age of 15, girls under the age of 15 have the highest rate of abortions.

Benefits of Abortion to a Teenager
This section outlines the circumstances under which an abortion is necessary when the pregnant woman’s rights take precedence over those of the unborn. In most countries around the world, especially in the United States of America, abortion has been a contentious topic. According to Roemer (1993), abortion should be acknowledged as a person’s right; many people who are considering getting an abortion have encountered opposition from a segment of society, particularly conservative Christians.

Numerous legal changes have been made over the history of abortion and its legality, sometimes making it legal and other times making it illegal. Despite being legal in some areas, there has been ongoing discussion about abortion. The debate shifts from just considering whether abortion is ethically good or immoral to considering whether the act violates another person’s right to life or not because the key point that is widely argued in the discussion is when life truly begins. Abortion is somewhat advantageous to a teen when considering the mother’s and the fetus’s lives (Women’s International Network, 1982).

Children under the age of 18 are referred to as teenagers. This indicates that their life still depends on their parents. These kids are at educational facilities but haven’t yet fulfilled their life goals. Most schools forbid pregnant girls from attending, thus if a girl becomes pregnant she must leave school. The best way to assist these girls is not in this way. Regardless of how they got pregnant, the reality is that they are already expecting.

Sending them out of school won’t solve anything, and it might even make things worse because these kids can’t even support themselves, never alone the child they are carrying. Abortion, though, is a preferable solution to this issue. This makes sure the adolescent girl can finish her coursework without skipping class. Even in the earliest stages of pregnancy, abortion can be carried out secretly, with only the girl and the mother aware of it. This prevents the girl from facing the mockery she may have faced had her peers known about her condition (Anon, 2010).

Abortion, especially when the pregnancy is unplanned, releases minors from any risks associated with pregnancies, according to Noonan (1979). The teenager will then have the option of deciding whether or not they wish to keep the child they are carrying. If a teen is coerced into carrying a pregnancy that she does not desire, she may refuse to care for the unborn child by attending to clinics and eating the correct foods, among other things. Instead, she might decide to do activities that are against pregnancy protocol, like consume excessive amounts of alcohol, which could damage both her and the unborn kid.

Teenage girls frequently choose abortions because they believe they are not ready to have children and that it is the only option available to them. Since some of these girls come from low-income homes, raising a child would be a difficult task for them. Poor girls frequently engage in commercial sex as a means of obtaining a living; as a result, some of them get diseases and some become pregnant.

Some of them are abandoned, leaving them little choice but to sell their bodies for cash. The only alternative (which seems best for them) if they become pregnant throughout the process appears to be to abort the unborn child because they appear to have no other way to care for their infant. Many infants raised by teenagers frequently receive insufficient medical care because some of them lack the time or resources to take their children for checkups (Colman, 1997). Abortion is the lone remaining remedy.

Consider a situation where a teen girl becomes pregnant as a result of rape. Keeping the child will cause her to be continuously reminded of being raped, which will be terrible. Yet again, how will the child react if one day it is revealed that rape was the cause of their conception? This situation has the potential to kill a lady from stress, violating her right to life. It is crucial to remember that permitting adolescent abortions not only acknowledges the right of the pertinent parties but also establishes a legal foundation for the preservation of pregnant women’s lives in the event of issues with pregnancies (Henshaw, 1993).

Abortion is the only choice available in cases of incest to preserve the reputation of the girl and her family. The fact that an incest child was born serves as a daily reminder of the wickedness and horror of the deed. Knowing that the child she is carrying is the consequence of the most horrific crime she can imagine would make a teen uncomfortable (being raped by a relative). The father or the woman’s nearest relative may have raped the woman in some of these pregnancies. The girl experiences emotional pain as a result of these events and loses her sense of purpose in life.

The girl finds some peace through the abortion, but she may never be able to forgive the perpetrator (Kosunen, 2002).
Medically, there are situations in which a woman’s life can be in jeopardy and pregnancy termination is the only option. Abortion should be permitted in this situation, subject to a medical evaluation and a doctor’s advice (Lee, 2003). It might seem sense to end a pregnancy in order to preserve the woman’s life, but in places where abortion is outright prohibited, this might not be practical. Medical practitioners may advise against abortion owing to legal repercussions, causing the lady to lose her life.

To consider prohibiting a woman from having an abortion while the current abortion law is still in effect would be a grave infringement of her right to an abortion (AGI, 2004).

There have been a number of prejudiced reasons made against abortion, some of which are falsehoods that don’t match the facts of the situation. One such justification is the theory—accepted by some politicians—that having an abortion could lead to breast cancer. This claim has been debunked, and it might be seen as an attempt by pro-lifers to convince women to oppose abortion (NCCDPHP, 1999).

The battle against abortion has a long history, and the majority of the arguments put out defy common sense. Some of these arguments are that women should be permitted to forgo sex with their husbands whenever they feel it is necessary in order to avoid complications associated with pregnancies, that abortion can result in the mother’s death, and that abortion will haunt a woman’s conscience until she passes away (PPFA, 2004).

Harmful effects
Contrary to pro-choice, pro-lifers believe that life is sacred and deserving of respect. They believe that life begins at conception when they talk about the beginning of existence. This is true since the woman bears a living human being who has a right to life after conception. Mothers are merely considered as the carriers of additional human beings.

When the mother’s life is in danger as a result of the pregnancy, abortion can occasionally be permitted; otherwise, it should be illegal. Pro-lifers argue that regardless of whether a person’s death is the result of a specific ailment, life should not be extinguished (LaFollette, 2002).

No one should abort a pregnancy, just as no one can explain what life is or where it came from. The unborn kid already has features of a human person by the third week of pregnancy; hence, the unborn is a living organism whose life should not be destroyed. By the first trimester, the infant has arms, legs, feet, hands, and other body parts.