Abortion Issues

In Australia 1 in every 4 pregnancies is terminated, with 80,000 women undergoing abortion every year. International research shows that women will still seek abortion, even if it is illegal, and a number of surveys reveal a majority of Australians support the idea of safe and legal abortions. Abortion laws are different in each Australian state and territory, yet some of the legislation is vague and open to interpretation. This book explores the topic in two chapters: Abortion Options; and The Abortion Law Debate. What can be done to avoid unplanned pregnancy in the first place; if a woman finds herself in this situation, what are the options? Should Australia’s abortion laws be standardised? What are the pro-choice and pro-life arguments in relation to decriminalisation, availability of non-surgical abortion (RU486), late-term abortion, birth defects, the health of the expectant mother, the status of the fetus, and conscientious objections of health practitioners? Whose rights should prevail in this ethically complex debate?

Chapter 1: Abortion Options

Chapter 2: The Abortion Law Debate

Glossary; Fast Facts; Web Links; Index

Fast facts:

• It is estimated that there are almost 200,000 unplanned pregnancies in Australia every year. Unplanned pregnancies occur for a wide variety of individual, social and political reasons.
• An estimated 23% of all known pregnancies in Australia are terminated. This makes abortion one of the most common surgical procedures in the country, with around 80,000 women undergoing abortion every year.
• Comparatively speaking, Australia’s abortion rate is reasonably low by international standards. For instance, the United States of America has a 30% abortion rate, while countries such as the former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria have recorded abortion rates of over 50%.
• Abortion laws are different in each Australian state and territory. Research has shown that the majority of Australians support the idea of safe and legal abortion. Yet some of the legislation remains vague and open to interpretation.
• Around one in three Australian women will undergo an abortion.
• The typical profile of a woman seeking abortion includes: aged in her 20s; single; childless; well-educated; and employed.
• Studies show that between half and two thirds of all women presenting for abortion were using contraception at the time.
• An increasing number of older women are having abortions, and most are working mothers who choose to focus on their career, current children and financial stability than have another baby.
• Increases in global contraceptive use have contributed to a decrease in the number of unintended pregnancies and, in turn, a decline in the number of abortions, which fell from an estimated 45.5 million procedures in 1995 to 41.6 million in 2003.
• Unsafe abortion causes an estimated 70,000 deaths each year worldwide, and an additional five million women are treated annually for complications resulting from unsafe abortion. Approximately three million women who experience serious complications from unsafe procedures go untreated.
• Most abortions occur in developing countries – 35 million annually, compared with seven million in developed countries – a disparity that largely reflects the relative population distribution.
• Worldwide, 48% of all induced abortions are unsafe. However, in developed regions, nearly all abortions (92%) are safe, whereas in developing countries, more than half (55%) are unsafe.
• Of the estimated 208 million pregnancies that occurred worldwide in 2008, 33 million (16%) resulted in unintended births and 41 million ended in induced abortions. (20%).
• Public support for access to abortion in Australia has steadily increased in the past twenty years. The series of polls conducted by the Australian Election Study showed 38% of respondents in 1987 believed ‘women should be able to obtain an abortion readily, when they want one.’ In less than ten years support for “abortion on demand” had increased to 53% and by 2004 support had risen to 54.2%. Conversely, the percentage of respondents fundamentally opposed to abortion dropped from 6% to 4% in the same period.