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Abortions Abstract Abortions have caused major ethical disputes over recent decades. Many topics circulating these disputes include the psychological effects of abortions, whether it is right to terminate an embryo, the concept of personhood and whether or not abortions should be illegal. These are just a handful of questions debated about- as a community, and more importantly, as an individual. Abortions can be seen as a moral, psychological and epidemiological problem (just to name a few) however, many women choose abortions because of medical reasons or for their own personal reasons. Abortions can be defined as the termination of in utero foetal life after conception and before birth. (Encyclopaedia of Ethics, 2nd Ed.) An abortion can happen naturally (i.e. miscarriage) or it can be induced (i.e. deliberately) for most people, abortions are usually referred to as the deliberate termination of a foetal. Abortions are usually performed during the first twelve weeks of the pregnancy. Abortions can be performed up to twenty-four weeks into the pregnancy, but this involves many risks for the pregnant woman and the baby. Clinical abortions are usually a simple procedure and in most cases, women can leave on the same day. Abortions can be viewed as a disastrous problem. It can be seen as a moral, medical, legal, sociological, demographic and psychological problem. It is a moral problem because it raises the question of the nature and control of incipient human life. It is a medical problem because the doctor is the person normally called upon to perform the abortion (both his conscience and medical skills are questioned) It is a legal problem because it raises the question of the extent to which society should concern itself with unborn life, with motherhood, with family life and with public control over the medical profession. It is a sociological problem because it touches on women’s roles in our society, family organisation and disorganisation, and the national demographics of formal and informal sanctions. It is a demographic problem because it raises the question of whether abortions provide a useful, desirable and legitimate method of population limitation where such limitation is needed. Finally, it is a psychological problem because in one way or the other, the attitudes of human beings towards conception, pregnancy, birth and child-rearing touches deep-rooted drives, emotions, instincts and taboos.
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