Friday, October 19, 2007
Statistics aide perception
So how common is abortion? Approximately 1.37 million abortions occur each year within the United States; that is approximately 3,700 a day. Once every twenty-two seconds a woman undergoes an abortion. This reemphasizes the fact that abortion is a very real issue in our culture today, not just a minor debate that can be swept under the rug. It is an issue multiple women face and are personally affected by each day. So who are these women; who are the women having abortions? Fifty- two percent of all women having an abortion are under the age of twenty-five and thirty-two percent are in their early twenties. Sixty-four percent are unmarried and sixty percent are white. So why are these women having abortions? Specifics vary, but ninety-three percent of all abortions actually occur for social reasons, not because of a rape crisis or health endangerment as some pro-choicers like to pretend. Abortion has become so much larger than just a last resort for those that are suffering; some would argue that it has become a "Get out of jail free" card for women to not have to deal with the consequences of their actions. Are these women getting out of jail "free" though? When is it that most decide to utilize their pass? Fifty-two percent of abortions occur prior to a woman's ninth week of being pregnant. In one year, approximately 16,450 abortions occur after the twentieth week of pregnancy.
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4 comments:
I found the statistics of abortions in the US very shocking. the fact that 3,700 abortions happen a day really opens my eyes. Thats almost 4000 people killed a day.
LOVE YA FRED!
these statistics are very interesting to me, but I have a few questions. First of all, you mentioned that 64% of the people getting abortions are unmarried. This means that 36% of the people getting abortions are married. Why do you think this is such a high percentage? When I think of social reasons, I often think of pressure from society or bad timing for unmarried couples, but what would be the motivation behind an abortion for a married couple? Also, when is the legal time frame in a woman's pregnancy for which she can have an abortion? The 20th month of pregnancy seems really late to me. Could a lot of the conflict be resolved if there were simply a quicker "cut off" date for which women could have the abortion?
John- I was surprised by the statistics as well. I really had no idea that abortion occurs so commonly. No wonder it is such a heated debate. The practice is implemented by clinics across the United States everyday; yet half the country believes it is morally wrong. I'm tempted to think that for something to be so common, we would want to make sure it was ethical by all standards. Yet I also realize that on the opposing side, it could be considered unethical not to allow women the right to make this choose which they resort to so frequently.
I think there is a lot of responsibility and perception that comes with pregnancy whether a woman is married or not. Our society is puts pressures on women who are pregnant to fit certain standards regardless of their marital status. A married woman might would get an abortion because she never wanted to have kids or perhaps because she wasn't planning for another one. She might be in a situation where she feels that she is too old to give birth to or to raise a child. The husband could put pressure on his wife saying he can't support a child. The possibilities as to why married women have abortions are endless.
To be honest, I'm having trouble finding the exact legal time frame, but I will post it as soon as it becomes available to me. Whether or not a woman is legally permitted to have a late-term abortion depends on the reasoning for the abortion. Technically laws have been enforced to promote a tentative cut off date but many argue that it is rarely applied.
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