A Review of the Literature: ABORTIONS

Abortions and its Impact: A Review of the Literature Iris Marie Marrufo University of Texas at El Paso English 1311

A Review of the Literature: ABORTIONS ABSTRACT Abortion is a huge controversial issue in society, and will continue to be as long as it is around.

Although the practice is legal, there are pro-life advocates fighting to save the unborn child. Do the advocates really think about the other side? There are two sides to every story, there is no single story. Taking out religion and governmental, what is there left to say about abortion?

A Review of the Literature: ABORTIONS Abortions and its Impact: A Review of the Literature Abortion is a continued legal medical procedure in the United States that has been practiced for thousands of years. It is right if and only if the method is done properly in a clinic by a skilled professional. In todays society it is an easy procedure to terminate an unwanted fetus with less of a chance to get any type of illness. Medical abortions have less than a 0.5 percent risk of serious complications (Law Teacher 2013, p. 1) and do not affect future

pregnancies of the women. In addition, government help such as Medicaidmay assist to pay for the procedure only under certain circumstances; the mother or child must be at risk for their life, or if it is a result of rape or incest. There have been many controversies about freedom of reproduction rights of woman (Pro-Choice) and those who believe in the right of life of the fetus (Pro-Life). Although having an abortion is an easy way out of having an unwanted child, some argue the life of the child should be able to live and have rights as much as the mother does. Unsure whether abortion affects the economy or not, it is better to find out these problems before deciding if abortion should be legal or not. In order to learn more about illegalizing abortion, two important questions need to be considered: 1. Will making abortion illegal affect society? 2. Will the economy be affected if abortion is illegal? The following review on literature will: provide information regarding the effects on society and economy if abortion is illegalized.

A Review of the Literature: ABORTIONS Will making abortion illegal affect society? According to What Happens to Women Who Are Denied Abortions? by Sheila Glaser, approximately 80 percent reported not having enough money to meet basic living needs (New York Times Magazine, 2013). Although there are other alternatives such as adoption. Adoption is considered by many to be a positive alternative to abortion. It provides pregnant women with a choice if they cannot or do not want to take on the responsibilities of parenthood due to age, financial responsibilities, or life concerns (Law Teacher 2013, p.1). Making abortions illegal,

means having enough children to give to the adoptive couples. The chart shows only 841 adoption referrals, while there were 329,445 abortions in 2010. There are 1.5 million American families wanting to adopt a child and less children are being born. A legal aspect to making abortion illegal is that the ability of a woman to have control of her body is critical to her civil rights. If the government can force a woman to continue with an unwanted pregnancy, what would stop them from forcing a woman to use contraception or undergo sterilization? (Law Teacher 2013, p.1). In addition, if the freedom of reproduction is taken away from women, there will back alley abortions leading to increased risks of young women dying or becoming sterile (Messerli, J., Should Abortion Be Banned, n.d.).

A Review of the Literature: ABORTIONS Will the economy be affected if abortion is illegal? Although there are many social issues that abortion has on our society, the effects on

the economy are overlooked. The United States has a national debt of $16 trillion, which means the government is spending beyond our means (Behna, M., LifeNews.com, July 2012). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Social Security Administration, Guttmacher Institute, and National Center for Health Statistics, if abortion had never been legalized in 1973, more than 17 million people would be employed. With so many employed workers, an additional $400 billion, with $11 billion contributed to Medicare and $47 million to Social Security (Behna, M., LifeNews.com, July 2012). These added incomes would however help the country. Taxpayer dollars are sometimes used to provide poor women access to medical serviced easily available to others (Law Teacher 2013, p.1), and abortion is one of these services. According to Behna, not having abortion would help Social Security last longer assuming that the amount of federal spending is the same. Having abortion be illegal, may either lower taxes or higher them to help support the poor women and their children.

Conclusion Abortion has been into question on whether it is the right choice or not since Roe v. Wade in 1973. What the government has agreed on, is that women should have their free will to do whatever they want with their body. It is the people who try and persuade the

A Review of the Literature: ABORTIONS

government what they believe is the right choice. Further analysis needs to be done to balance the negatives and positives of abortion to decide if it should stay legal or not.

A Review of the Literature: ABORTIONS References Littlewood, B. (n.d.). Abortion impact on society positive and negative. Law Teacher. Retrieved November 13, 2013, http://www.lawteacher.net/medical-law/essays/abortion-impact-onsociety-positive-and-negative-medical-law-essay.php

ProCon.org staff (2011, July 13). Abortion. ProCon.org. Retrieved November 13, 2013, http://abortion.procon.org/

Behna, M. (2012, July 16). The Economic Effect of Abortion: Billions and Billions Lost. LifeNews.com. Retrieved November 14, 2013, http://www.lifenews.com/2012/07/16/theeconomic-effect-of-abortion-billions-and-billions-lost/

Glaser, S. (2013, June 12). What Happens to Women Who Are Denied Abortions? New York Times Magazine. Retrieved November 14, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/magazine/study-women-deniedabortions.html?pagewanted=4&_r=0

Messerli, J. (n.d.). Abortion. BalanedPolitics.org. Retrieved November 14, 2013, http://www.balancedpolitics.org/abortion.htm