Abortion

Abortion is becoming a popular choice for most young women in America, but is it considered a crime, murder? Many women have abortions for example, because they are not ready or financially can't have a baby at the time. But is that okay? Should they be considering the consequences that will come? This paper will strongly talk about abortion laws on the Untied States, abortion statistics throughout the world and United States, and how abortion is presently performed.

Abortion laws are only individual states across America for now. Presently, the state of Colorado has a ban stating that a woman may not obtain an abortion unless it is authorized unanimously by a hospital board of three physicians that certifies in writing one of the following: continuation of the pregnancy is likely to result in the women's death or serious permanent impairment of her physical or mental health; the women is likely to deliver a child with grave and permanent physical deformity or mental retardation; or finally, the pregnancy resulted from sexual assault or incest. A district attorney must certify in writing that there is probably cause to believe that the assault or incest occurred, and less than sixteen weeks of gestation have passed. Also, forty states have laws banning most post-viability abortions. At least eighteen states have passed laws prohibiting partial-birth abortions as well. More bills are pending in other states right now. The Federal Bill, "The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act," has become the model for most of the state laws, and also has been repeatedly vetoed and attempted overrides have consistently failed in the Senate.

Throughout the country the abortion statistics keep growing. There are approximately 46 million abortions performed each year and 20 million of them are obtained illegally. Therefore, there are about 120,000 abortions conducted each day throughout the world. Approximately 1,370,000 abortions occur annually in the United States. In 2001, 1.31 million abortions took place in the U.S. About 60% of the abortions are performed on women who already have one or more children. Also, 47% of abortions are performed on women who have already had one or more abortions. Researchers say that 43% of women will have at least one abortion by the time they are 45 years old. The majority of women receiving abortions are quite young. 52% are younger than 25 years of age and 19% are teenagers. The abortion rate is highest for those women aged 18 to 19. 51% of women who are unmarried when they become pregnant will receive an abortion. Unmarried women are six times more likely than married women to have an abortion and 67% of abortions are from women who have never been married.

When most people hear of how abortion is performed that's usually enough to scare away from the idea. During the time period before fourteen weeks abortion is performed mainly three different ways. First, the cervix must be stretched enough to allow the abortion tools to pass into the uterus. The doctor then guides the suction device through the cervix and into the uterus. He then uses