Functionalism Perspective On Society

“Abortion”

Police officers with cadaver-sniffing dogs and shovels dug in the backyard of a home where the bodies of four fetuses were found. One male fetus in the 26th week of gestation was found under a bathroom sink, two other fetuses were found in plastic bags in a trunk in Ms. Freeman’s bedroom, and another in a bag in a vehicle parked in her driveway. Apparently, none of the bodies appeared to be full term. Ms. Freeman told the police she had delivered a dead and deformed baby. This leads us to an examination of abortion within the U.S. revealing its methods, social and ethical issues, and psychological aspects.

We might ask ourselves, what is abortion and what effect does it have on society? According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, “abortion is any interruption of human pregnancy prior to the 28th week.” Some abortions occur naturally because a fetus does not develop normally or because the mother has an injury or factors that prevent her from carrying the pregnancy to term, meaning, having a miscarriage. “Other abortions are induced, meaning, intentionally brought on because the pregnancy is unwanted, it presents a risk to a woman’s health, or because the fetus might have severe physical or mental health problems” cites the Columbia Encclopedia. Induced abortion is one of today’s most intense and popular ethical, philosophical, and psychological issues. Nowadays, medical techniques have made induced abortions simpler and less dangerous. But in the United States, debates over abortion are an everyday battle filled with confrontations!

What are the methods for induced abortion? Induced abortion can be performed in two ways, using drugs or having surgery. The safest and most appropriate method is determined by the age of the fetus, which is in the first trimester (the first 13 weeks) of pregnancy while abortions in the second (14 -28 weeks) and third trimesters (29th to birth) require more complicated procedures and a woman’s health presentst greater risks. An abortion based on drugs (medication abortion) requires that a woman intakes those drugs within the first weeks of her pregnancy. There are a few kinds of drug abortion methods but the most common one is that a pregnant woman intakes a specifically kind of hormone-like drug that causes contractions of the uterus (organ in which the fetus develops) and eventually expels the fetus. According to a lab research, these methods end pregnancy in an effective and secure way at approximately 96% of the women who take them. Likely, they’re most effective when it’s done at a very early stage during pregnancy. One advantage is that these methods require no need of anesthesia. However, these drugs may cause unpleasant side effects such as nausea, cramping and bleeding.

In the other hand, legal surgical abortion is 100% effective when it’s done by a trained specialist. There are many ways of surgical methods that can be used to induce abortion. Typically, in the first four to six weeks of pregnancy, a doctor uses some kind of tube to evacuate the fetus out of the uterus. It only lasts several minutes but there’s a chance for the woman to get an infection with these kind of procedure. The vacuum aspiration is used within the 6th and 14th week of pregnancy requiring local anesthesia. Injuries may occur. After the first 16 weeks of pregnancy, abortion becomes more difficult because of the larger size of the fetus and the thinner walls of the uterus. These procedures now become major surgeries requiring general anesthesia and after surgery, “taking more care of their bodies” as the doctor would say.

As I mentioned earlier, abortion has become one of the most debated ethical issues of our time. On one side we have the individuals who favor a woman’s reproductive rights, including the right to choose to have an abortion. On the other side are the ones who oppose abortion for any reason or who may only accept abortion in extreme circumstances. The pro-choice defenders believe the fetus is only a potential or “real” human being when it is able to survive once it’s born. Until this time the fetus has no legal rights except the mother who’s carrying the fetus. In the other hand, pro-life supporters believe the fetus is a human being from the first moment of conception. Meaning, the fetus has the legal right to life from the moment the egg and sperm unite. Mike Huckabee, a republican quoted: “I'm pro-life because I believe life begins at conception, and I believe that we should do everything possible to protect