Is Abortion a form of Birth Control?
(Contains the history of abortion, brief historical information on the birth control pill, its effectiveness along with the effectiveness of a condom.)
"Oh no, I’m pregnant!!" "Oh that’s all? Just get an ABORTION."
Each year 1 out of 3 babies conceived in the United States is aborted, 42% of those abortions were because there was no contraception involved of any kind; a study in the 'Abortion and Fertility Regulation' (The Lancet, June 15, 1996) showed. This shows that people have the mentality that if you get pregnant it can easily be fixed with an abortion. However, there is another side to this story, what about the other 68% of women who use some form of method of birth control? When the birth control pill came out many thought it was 100% sure, however that is not the case with anything. Therefore, pregnancies along with abortions increased. Condoms, which are 86% - 97% effective, and birth control pills, which are 95% - 99.9%, are not 100% safe but they do reduce the probability of getting pregnant, and condoms reduce the probability of getting pregnant and getting an STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease.)
In order to understand abortion and the connection with pregnancies and birth control pills you need to know the history behind both of them. Abortion laws did not start to appear in the United States until the 1820s, forbidding abortion after the fourth month. The American Medical Association, legislators, and physicians tried extremely hard to ban abortion by 1900. However, at the same time there was a Comstock Law, which banned birth control information and devices. By 1965 all of the fifty states banned abortion. On the other hand there was an exception to that which varied from state to state. Some states allowed abortion only to save the life of the mother, in the case of rape and incest, or if the fetus was deform. However all of the laws of abortion were bound to change in 1973 with the Supreme Court Case Roe v. Wade. On this case, Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that most existing state abortion laws were unconstitutional. Further more they said that there was to be no legislative interference in the first trimester of pregnancy and put limits on what restrictions could be passed on abortions later stages of pregnancies.
Around the 1900, closer to the 1950s, testing for a birth control pill began. Many physicians and companies were trying to manufacture a pill that would reduce the probably of getting pregnant. However, the birth control pill is not 100% as most women thought, and still think, when it first came out. After it first came out, many women were complaining of side effects. In 1970 the birth control bill was "perfected", with 50 mcg of estrogen and 2 mg of progesterone, women were given the birth control pill to help prevent the possibilities of getting pregnant.
After the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Case many women felt that they had the right to choose whether or not they could have an abortion. Further more women felt that abortion was a form of birth control as the statistics can show. Not only that but women were nave in reference to the birth control pill when it first came out thinking that it was 100% sure of preventing a pregnancies.
In 1974, 4 years after the birth control pill came out and 1 year after the Roe v. Wade case, pregnancies decreased but abortions increased according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute. In 1973, among women between the ages of 15 to 17, there were 238,403 pregnancies and 104,590 abortions; this is 3 years after the birth control pill and the same year as the Roe v. Wade case. In 1974, 1 year after the Roe v. Wade case and 4 years after the birth control pill pregnancies decreased however, abortions increased by about 19 thousand. In 1974, among women of 15 to 17, there was 234,177 a decline of about 4 thousand from the previous year, and there was 123,350 abortions an increased from the previous years.
These statistics show that even though the birth control pill had been placed into action for about 4 years women started to use abortion as a birth control method as well. It became more common and common as the years went by. However, abortions did start to decrease in later years as the topic became more controversial in society. Each year there is around 1.37 million abortions, and of those performed abortion only 14,000 have abortions following a rape or incest. That means that the rest of the abortions are because of other reasons, more or less there form of birth control.
The Alan Guttmacher Institute showed that women give at least 3 reasons for choosing abortion: ¾ say that having a bay would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities; about 2/3 say they cannot afford a child; and ½ say the do not want to be a single parent or are having problem with their husband or partner. When women get pregnant it seems that they seek the easy way out instead of really trying to work out their problems. Furthermore, it seems that they have been irresponsibility because they have not taken the proper preciosities in respect to a form of birth control.
Abortion should never be seen as a form of birth control. Back in the days abortion was used only in the extreme cases when the mother’s life was in danger, the mother had been raped or incest had occurred, or if the fetus was deform. In those cases an abortion was performed to save the mother and her family an enormous amount of pain. However, now a day, abortion is seen as a right. The woman has the right to choose whether or not they want to have an abortion, to end the life of a baby. Furtherer more this situation gets complicated, people don’t see a fetus, an egg growing to become a baby when it comes out of the birth canal, as a baby and see it fit to have an abortion. This case has been extremely controversial in society because it’s effect on everyone’s moral turpitude.
In conclusion, women of the year 2001 think differently then women in the 1970s. Abortion is a right and therefore should not be abridged by the government. The problem here is not really abortion, but the form of birth control women and men are using. Women along with men should make it their responsibility to be protected and try to prevent any pregnancies. If a man wears a condom and a woman is taking the pill then the possibilities of getting pregnant are slim. Further more the only 100% effective way to make sure you don’t get pregnant or get an STD is abstinence, no sex at all.
(Most of the statistics on this paper was gathered from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, they have the best data for pregnancies, abortions, and more. If a statistical information was not sited it is because it came from the Alan Guttmacher Institute)