ABORTION

PRUDENCE

Aquino, Adrian

Flores, Johazen

Magdangal, JM

Meneses, Dexter

Villaganas, Merwin

Canlas, Maesue

Victorio, Rachelle

IV-GALILEI
 I. INTRODUCTION
Abortion, from the Latin word, aboriri, means “to perish” may be briefly defined as “the loss of a
fetal life”. In it the fetus dies while yet within the generative organs of the mother, or it is ejected
or extracted from them before it is viable; that is, before it is sufficiently developed to continue
its life by itself. The term abortion is also applied, though less properly, to cases in which the
child is become viable, but does not survive the delivery. In this article we shall take the word in
its widest meaning, and treat of abortion as occurring at any time between conception and safe
delivery. The word miscarriage is taken in the same wide sense. Yet medical writers often use
these words in special meanings, restricting abortion to the time when the embryo has not yet
assumed specific features, that is, in the human embryo, before the third month of gestation;
miscarriage occurs later, but before viability; while the birth of a viable child before the
completed term of nine months is styled premature birth. Viability may exist in the seventh
month of gestation, but it cannot safely be presumed before the eighth month. If the child
survives its premature birth, there is no abortion — for this word always denotes the loss of
fetal life.

Abortion is also defined as “the willful killing of the fetus in the uterus, or the violent expulsion
of the fetus from the maternal womb, which results in the death of the fetus (carrara).

Abortion is one of the most persistently controversial issues in American culture and politics
today. Since the 1973 national legalization of abortion, competing groups have fought to either
restrict or increase access to the procedure, leading to heated debates among political activists,
religious organizations, state legislatures, and judges.
As we all know, abortion is not good for the baby as it causes its death, and also for the mother
itself. It is widely known as deadly to an innocent child. Abortion, if not properly done, may
cause poisoning inside the body of the mother. Abortion can be done by a hilot, midwife, doctor
or the woman herself.

There are several types of surgical abortion:

1. Dilation and Curettage (D&C)

- The cervix or the mouth of the womb is first stretched open. A curette or a sharp,
loop-shaped knife is then inserted, and cuts the fetus into small pieces. It’s head is
crushed with the forceps in order to remove the baby. The womb is then scraped out
completely.
2. Suction – Curettage Abortion
- A tube inserted into the uterus; the suction breaks and crushes the body parts of the
fetus drawing them out into a jar. With both of these methods, the resulting tissue is
clearly identifiable as small pieces of a baby. The actual cause of death is the physical
dismemberment of the body.

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 3. Saline Injection
- This method is used too large for D&C and Suction-Curettage. A long needle is
injected through the mother’s abdomen to extract a certain amount of the amniotic
fluid. This portion of the fluid is replaced with a toxic salt (Strong Salt Poisoning
Solution), which burns the outer layer of the child’s skin. An increase in movement is
noted as the baby inhales and swallows the solution. The baby often convulses, goes
into a comma, and dies an hour or two later. Labor begins 24-28 hours later. In all
these cases, the unborn child dies from mutilation or poisoning before it can be
removed from the womb.
4. Hormone Drug Injection
- Prostaglandin drug is injected into the amniotic sac. This hormone drug produces
labor and premature birth. The baby, in most cases, is born alive with a heartbeat then
put aside to die.
5. Hysterectomy
- It is generally used when saline injection is impractical. The baby is delivered as it
would be in a Caesarian Section. Almost all babies delivered by Hysterectomy are
born alive. Many cry and kick, within a few minutes, however, most die of exposure
and willful neglect.

In the Philippines, studies indicate that the methods most frequently used in hospitals include:
dilation and curettage (D&C); prophylactic or oxytoxics and antibiotics; vacuum aspiration and
hysterectomy. Outside the hospitals, the most common method in inducing abortion is by
insertion of a catheter, followed by deep abdominal massage, then by use of drugs, herbs and
medicinal conditions. Whether you refer to this as “killing” or “induced death”, the effect on the
child is the same.

Abortion is a much debated subject with strong views often put forward on both sides of the
argument. The first evidence of the termination of pregnancies goes back many centuries,
thought to be as far back as 1550 BC. General opinion is that abortions were first performed in
significant numbers in the 13th century. There were no abortion laws at this time.

The first abortion laws went through in Britain in the early nineteenth century, when it was made
illegal to perform an abortion after "quickening". Quickening was the term used to describe the
time when the fetus can first be felt by a pregnant women. Abortion was made illegal under any
circumstances in 1861, although the penalty was reduced to life imprisonment. These rules were
relaxed in 1929 when abortion was legalized in some situations. If a woman's life was deemed to
be in danger, or her health at risk, then the pregnancy could be aborted before 28 weeks.

Campaigns to legalize abortions started to gather pace in the 1930's, when the subject was much
more in the public eye. Campaigners mostly fought on the grounds that many were resorting to
illegal abortions, which were leading to the injuries and deaths of hundreds of women in the UK.

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The case of Alec Bourne was instrumental in the route to the eventual legalisation of abortion,
although it was still almost 20 years before it would become legal. Dr Bourne was prosecuted in
1938 after aborting a 14 year old girls' pregnancy. He claimed that she had been suicidal, and
was eventually acquitted on the grounds that her life was in danger if she continued with the
pregnancy. This was a landmark case, and laws were further relaxed as a result of this. Although
still illegal, it opened up the doors for more women to successfully seek abortions on physical
and mental health grounds.

This caused problems of equality between rich and poor though. Examination by a psychiatrist
was required for abortions on the grounds of mental health and this was costly, meaning only the
wealthy were able to go down this route. This therefore reduced the number of illegal, unsafe
abortions that took place, but many poorer women still underwent unsafe abortions.

In 1967 the Abortion Act was bought in, legalizing terminations in the UK (except in Northern
Ireland). The main reason for the change in law was to prevent injuries and deaths that had been
caused by unsafe abortions. Although there have been some changes in abortion law since, the
Abortion Act has been relatively unchanged over the years.

The law currently requires a woman to have a certificate from two different doctors outlining the
reasons why she would like a termination. The legal limit for abortions has been changed from
28 weeks to 24. They have to be carried out in hospitals, and can be funded either through the
NHS or privately. Under 16's do not need parental permission to undergo an abortion. Much of
the law is still down to interpretation, although it is rare that someone seeking an abortion is
refused. It is still though, illegal in Northern Ireland.

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 II. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
While the first recorded recipe form an abortion inducing drug came from 2600 BC, and there is
a record of Egyptian potions made from crocodile dung, dating to 1850 BC, the history of
Abortion in the U.S. is, obviously of more interest. Most people consider the U.S. history of
abortion to have begun with the famous 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, but the
history of abortion in the U.S. began with the pilgrims. What may not be widely known is that
abortion in early America was NOT illegal before the last part of the Nineteenth century. When
abortion was frowned on, it was for social and economic reasons, not because of concern about
the fetus. In fact, while "in Colonial New England, adultery was illegal, so was incest and
insubordination, abortion was not expressively forbidden" (Flanders, 17). In fact, there was not
even a canonical law of the Catholic Church forbidding abortion. (That happened in 1869 by
edict of Pope Pius IX.)

"From the 1660's through 1776, the colonies, following English common law, permitted
abortions everywhere (Rosenblatt 8). So, why did the movement to make abortions illegal really
take hold? Strangely enough, one major cause was the falling birthrate among middle-class
whites. More than that, it was the beginning of a crusade of medical doctors who felt that some
of their practices (including abortions) were now being taken over by non-physician
practitioners, including midwives, even pharmacists and homeopaths. "No group of physicians
was more insecure than the gynecology/obstetrics specialists" (Flanders 176). Even worse,
doctors and other anti-abortionists, brought race and "patriotism" into the argument, as the Great
Plains were opening up. "The leading mid-century antiabortion campaigner demanded: 'Shall
they be filled with our children or by those of aliens?'" (Flanders 178).

o, by 1880 "anti-abortion laws were written in 40 states and territories. Interestingly, America's
mainline Protestant churches did not support the medical profession's crusade; the practice was
too common in their congregations" (Rosenblatt 9).

Before the end of the Nineteenth century when abortion laws first made the rounds of state
legislatures, "commercial preparations were so widely available that they had inspired their own
euphemism ('taking the trade'). Unfortunately, these drugs were often fatal" (Pollin 112).
Actually, as Pollin (1997) explains, the first laws were not really anti-abortion, but poison-
control laws. Abortion continued to be offered by specialists- who were not doctors. "The most
famous practitioner, Madame Restell, openly provided abortion services for thirty-five years
with offices in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia and traveling salesmen touting her 'Female
Monthly Pills'" (Pollin 112).

By the beginning of the Twentieth Century, abortion was illegal in every state in the U.S. "In 45
states an exception was made if the mother's life were in danger from the pregnancy" (Gale 1).
This was liberalization of the strict "no abortion" emphasis made by 19th century doctors. At this
same time, the medical establishment believed, unlike today "that life began at about four

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months, when the mother felt the baby move in her stomach (a moment known as quickening)"
(Shenkman 69).

At the beginning of the 10th Century, we find another interesting statistic about abortions. Family
size. "In an age where couples lacked all but the most basic information about birth control,
abortion had emerged as a way for women to control the size of their families" (Tarshis 11).
According to Shenkman (1988) there have even been some statistics which estimate almost one
out of every four pregnancies in the 1920'a were terminated by an abortion.

It may not necessarily be called "liberalization", but as the years passed, there were other
exceptions to the medically unsafe legislation. "There was a growing concern about birth defects
and advances in physicians' abilities to predict them during pregnancy" (Gale 1). And, then,
some states passed controversial laws permitting abortions when the pregnancy was caused by
rape or incest, still debated in 2004.

Early in the 20th Century. there has even been a foreign aspect about abortion. The Cold War
added to the furor, because anti-Communists publicized the fact that "in 1920 the Soviet Union
became the first nation in the world to provide legal abortion on request during the first
trimester" (Anon. 1891).

By the 1960s, there were some different events which changed the minds of some about
abortion. "The first involved the drug thalidomide. Widely used by European women to alleviate
morning sickness in pregnancy, the drug caused serious deformities in the babies many of these
women were carrying" (Tarshis 11). The most famous case involved a woman named Sherri
Finkbine, who had taken the drug and, when she heard about the dangers, she applied to her local
hospital for an abortion. The hospital refused. So did other hospitals, and the tabloids were filled
with stories and pictures of deformed babies.

The 1960s also were the beginning of a stronger women's movement in the U.S., in which the
motivation and central theme was that women should have a right to control what happens to
(and even in) their bodies.

Of course, the central focus of abortion history in the U.S. was the Roe vs. Wade decision by the
Supreme Court in 1973. What was this decision? The Supreme Court struck down a Texas law
which made abortion illegal. "The Court ruled that the constitutional right to privacy
'encompassed a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy'" (Tarshis 12).
Since Roe vs. Wade, the abortion controversy seems to have increased. At first, of course, it was
the Religious Right that took up the public outcry. They were aided and abetted by some of the
medical establishment who argued that life began at conception, not as was mentioned earlier, at
"quickening". On the other side, the women's movement seemed to feel that Roe vs. Wade did
not go far enough. One has to remember that Roe vs. Wade ONLY covered the first three months
of a woman's pregnancy. As we now know what is called "late term abortion" has been a
political football during both the Clinton and Bush administrations.

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Still, there are those who see abortion as a religious issue. Some believe that, since the Catholic
church prohibits abortion (just as it permits sex only for procreation), all Catholics are anti-
abortion. However, there are some recent statistics that tell a different story.

It is interesting to note that even among educated Catholics the trend is toward agreement that a
woman should have a right to choose. However, the polarization continues between the liberal
and conservatives. It is a fundamental moral and ethical issue and will continue to polarize
American society, no matter whether Roe vs. Wade will remain the law of the land or be
overturned. Aside from the philosophical differences, the key question now is- will there
continue to be the violence of recent years? The problem with polls on Abortion is that the
questions themselves are often weighted toward one side or the other: One deficiency with most
polls is that they require snap judgments from the subjects. For example: a TIME-CNN poll in
1992 showed that "only 11% of American adults would withhold an abortion" (TIMES 1). The
debate over Abortion continues, even as both sides of the question seem to use some historical
facts to prove their case. It is not merely a medical debate. It is a religious and social and gender
debate. "It sometimes seems that the further abortion is removed from the actual lives and
circumstances of real girls and women, the more interesting it becomes to talk about" (Pollin
112).

While medical progress has made aborting a fetus easier, the debate about Abortion issue is
about ethics, religion, and morality. Opponents of abortion say it is against every aspect of
humanity to "kill a defenseless human being". They also believe that no state should "rule"
whether abortions can and should be legalized, or ruled illegal and "murder" of sorts. Yet, the
fact remains that "43% of American women will have an abortion in their life-time, if current
rates are sustained....But few women share the details beyond a small circle of loved ones
because the experiences don't fit neatly into a debate that centers on moral absolutes" (Waldman
20) It seems clear, therefore, that the Abortion polarity in this country in both its social and
medical aspects, offers no way to compromise and bring the two sides together. Even though
history shows that abortion was common even thousands of years ago, the debate about its
morality or legality will not go away.

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III. PRESENTATION OF THE STUDY
Abortion is also defined as “the willful killing of the fetus in the uterus, or the violent
expulsion of the fetus from the maternal womb, which results in the death of the fetus
(carrara).

Abortion is one of the most persistently controversial issues in American culture and politics
today. Since the 1973 national legalization of abortion, competing groups have fought to
either restrict or increase access to the procedure, leading to heated debates among political
activists, religious organizations, state legislatures, and judges.
Cytotec® (misoprostol) is indicated for the prevention of NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-
inflammatory drugs, including asprin)-induced gastric ulcers in patients at high risk of
complications from gastric ulcer, eg, the elderly and patients with concomitant debilitating
disease, as well as patients at high risk of developing gastric ulceration, such as patients with
a history of ulcer.Because of its abortifacient property, Cytotec® is contraindicated for use
by pregnant women. Cytotec® may cause miscarriage if given to pregnant women at any
time during pregnancy. Miscarriages caused by Cytotec® may be incomplete, which could
lead to dangerous bleeding, hospitalization, surgery, infertility, or maternal or fetal death.
Recent major studies from Australia and Canada have also concluded that miscarriages and
induced abortions raise the odds of premature birth and low birth weight — but only
modestly. (Those studies were able to distinguish women who had miscarried from women
who had intentionally ended their pregnancies.) Many other studies have found no clear link
at all. Perhaps that's because different study populations, taken from all over the world,
involve different risk factors for premature birth; or it may be simply that the sample sizes in
some studies were too small to pick up relatively small differences between women who had
had abortions and those who had not.

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 IV. DEFINITION OF TERMS
MISCARRIAGE
A miscarriage is any pregnancy that ends spontaneously before the fetus can survive. A
miscarriage is medically referred to as a spontaneous abortion. The World Health Organization
defines this unsurvivable state as an embryo or fetus weighing 500 grams or less, which typically
corresponds to a fetal age (gestational age) of 20 to 22 weeks or less. Miscarriage occurs in about
15% to 20% of all recognized pregnancies, and usually occurs before the 13th week of
pregnancy. With the development of highly sensitive assays for hCG levels that can detect an
early pregnancy even prior to the expected next period (menstruation), researchers have been
able to show that around 60% to 70% of all pregnancies (recognized and unrecognized) are lost.
Because the loss occurs so early, many miscarriages occur without the woman ever having
known she was pregnant. Of those miscarriages that occur before the eighth week, 30% have no
fetus associated with the sac or placenta. This condition is called blighted ovum, and many
women are surprised to learn that there was never an embryo inside the sac.

As described above, some miscarriages occur before women recognize that they are pregnant.
About 15% of fertilized eggs are lost before the egg even has a chance to implant (embed itself)
in the wall of the uterus. A woman would not generally identify this type of miscarriage. Another
15% of conceptions are lost before eight weeks' gestation. Once fetal heart function is detected in
a given pregnancy, the chance of miscarriage is less than 5%.

A woman who may be showing the signs of a possible miscarriage (such as vaginal bleeding)
may have her pregnancy referred to as a "threatened abortion."

FETUS
The unborn offspring from the end of the 8th week after conception (when the major structures
have formed) until birth. Up until the eighth week, the developing offspring is called an embryo.

CYTOTEC
Misoprostol is a synthetic (man-made) prostaglandin that is used to reduce the risk of stomach
ulcers in patients treated with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, for example,
aspirin, ibuprofen, etc.) that are used for pain and various inflammatory conditions, for example,
arthritis. Misoprostol is used primarily in patients at high risk for stomach ulcers when treated
with NSAIDs, for example, the elderly, patients with concomitant debilitating diseases, and
patients with a history of ulcers. Prostaglandins are chemicals that are made within many organs
of the body including the stomach. In the stomach, prostaglandins are believed to protect the
inner lining of the stomach from the ulcer-producing effects of NSAIDs. Scientists now believe
that NSAIDs produce ulceration by preventing the production of prostaglandins in the stomach.

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Synthetic prostaglandins such as misoprostol given orally "replace" the prostaglandins whose
production is inhibited by NSAIDs and have been shown to protect the lining of the stomach
from NSAID-induced ulcers. Misoprostol was approved by the FDA in December 1988.

MIDWIFE
A person trained to assist a woman during childbirth. Many midwives also provide prenatal care
for pregnant women, birth education for women and their partners, and care for mothers and
newborn babies after the birth. A midwife may be a man or a woman. Depending on local law,
midwives may deliver babies in the mother's home, in a special birthing center or clinic, or in a
hospital.

Most midwives specialize in normal, uncomplicated deliveries, referring women with health
problems that could require hospitalization during birth to a hospital-based obstetrician. Others
work with physicians as part of a team. Legal qualifications required to practice midwifery differ
between the US states and various countries. See also midwife, certified; midwife, certified
nurse; midwife, certified professional; midwife, direct-entry; midwife, traditional.

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 V. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In doing the proper abortion, four conditions are followed:

1. That we do not wish the evil effects, but make all reasonable efforts to avoid them;
2. That the immediate effect be good in itself;
3. That the evil is not made a means to obtain the good effect; for this would be to
do evil that good might come of it — a procedure never allowed;
4. That the good effect be as important at least as the evil effect.

CYTOTEC OR MISOPROSTOL PILLS

The “Cytotec® (misoprostol) is indicated for the prevention of NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs, including asprin)-induced gastric ulcers in patients at high risk of complications from gastric ulcer,
eg, the elderly and patients with concomitant debilitating disease, as well as patients at high risk of
developing gastric ulceration, such as patients with a history of ulcer.”

 Contraindications and Warnings

General

“Cytotec® produces uterine contractions, uterine bleeding, and expulsion of the products
of conception. Miscarriages caused by Cytotec® may be incomplete.”

“Anecdotal reports, primarily from Brazil, of congenital anomalies and reports of fetal
death subsequent to use of misoprostol as an abortifacient have been received.”

“Because of its abortifacient property, Cytotec® is contraindicated for use by pregnant

women. Cytotec® may cause miscarriage if given to pregnant women at any time during
pregnancy. Miscarriages caused by Cytotec® may be incomplete, which could lead to
dangerous bleeding, hospitalization, surgery, infertility, or maternal or fetal death.”

First trimester of pregnancy

“In studies in women undergoing elective termination of pregnancy during the first
trimester, Cytotec® caused partial or complete expulsion of the products of conception in
11% of the subjects and increased uterine bleeding in 41%.”

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Beyond first trimester of pregnancy

“Uterine rupture has been reported when Cytotec® was administered intravaginally in
pregnant women to induce labor or to induce abortion beyond the first trimester of
pregnancy.”

“Uterine perforation has been reported following administration of combined vaginal-

and-oral Cytotec® in pregnant women to induce abortion. In each of these reported cases,
the gestational age of the pregnancies was unknown.”

“One case of amniotic fluid embolism, which resulted in maternal and fetal death, has
been reported with use of misoprostol during pregnancy. Severe vaginal bleeding,
retained placenta, shock, fetal bradycardia, and pelvic pain have also been reported.
These women were administered misoprostol vaginally and/or orally over a range of
doses.”

“Cytotec® may cause the uterus to rupture (tear) in pregnant women if it is used to bring
on (induce) labor or to cause an abortion after the first trimester of pregnancy.
Miscarriages or rupture of the uterus may result in severe bleeding, hospitalization,
surgery, infertility or death.”

What is a successful abortion with cytotec pills?

Every woman considering medication abortion by pills have to understand what is complete and
successful abortion. The only one way to see if your abortion is complete and successful is to
take an ultrasound. You have to have an ultrasound 10 days after you use pills. Around it, you
should not have strong pain, heavy bleeding, fever or diarrhea. Some not heavy bleeding may
still continue up to 3 weeks. Usually woman just know was abortion successful or not. But
woman cannot be absolutely certain that her abortion was successful unless she take an
ultrasound and will be examined by doctor. You have to wait 10 days until you take an
ultrasound because 80% abortions are complete after 5 days only.

You may also take a pregnancy test after two weeks. In case you are still pregnancy (this is
possible because medication abortion is not 100% method) you may repeat the procedure. This is
reason why is recommended to order and buy extra Misoprostol (Cytotec) pills.
Keep in minds, you have to continue taking abortion tablets until you will have a miscarriage,
but not more than it described in abortion guideline.
If your abortion was successful, you will feel less cramps and less pain than after the first time
you take Misoprostol (Cytotec) pills.

Over-all, the use of cytotec pill is dangerous for the baby and the mother herself. It can be
deadly. The pregnant women must understand that even though you don’t want to be pregnant,
you should love your child for he is a gift from God himself. We should not tolerate this kind of
improper medications. And as it states in the Ten Commandment, “Thou shall not kill”, we
should not kill an innocent child.

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 VI. REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES
Abortions increase the risk of low birth weight in future pregnancies by a factor of three, and of
premature birth by a factor of two, according to the largest U.S. study of its kind. The study is
hardly perfect; the data is more than 40 years old and doesn't distinguish between medical
abortions and "spontaneous abortions," better known as miscarriages. Yet the report, published
today in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (JECH), shows one of the strongest
links yet between miscarriage or abortion on premature birth and low birth weight — major risk
factors for infant death or sickness.

What makes report significant is the size and detail of data. Some previous, smaller studies on
abortion and future birth weight have suffered because researchers were unable to untangle the
effects of abortion from, say, the effects of being poor (which also happens to increase a
woman's odds of having an abortion). But the researchers behind the JECH study, which
evaluated just over 45,000 single-child live births from 1959 to 1966, were able to adjust for an
impressive array of confounding variables, including race, age, weight, height, marital status,
occupation, the number of prenatal visits, the number of previous children, smoking and drinking
habits, drug habits, infant gender and both parents' education levels.

That kind of rigor makes the new findings particularly important. The study not only found a link
between abortion or miscarriage and low birth weight, but it also found that the risk appears to
increase with every subsequent miscarriage or abortion. The accruing risk, says co-author
Tilahun Adera at Virginia Commonwealth University, suggests that termination of pregnancy is
a true cause of low birth weight and preterm birth rather than a variable associated with such
conditions. "It's not just an association," he says. "The risk of premature birth increases with the
increasing number of abortions."

Women who had had one, two or three prior abortions or miscarriages were three, five and nine
times more likely, respectively, to have a low-birth-weight child, the data showed. Though it's
still not clear why that's so, doctors theorize that the cervix may be weakened by miscarriage or
abortion, increasing the risk of preterm birth later on. Or, it could be that uterine adhesions or
infections from the terminated pregnancy slow the growth of the fetus in subsequent pregnancies.

Recent major studies from Australia and Canada have also concluded that miscarriages and
induced abortions raise the odds of premature birth and low birth weight — but only modestly.
(Those studies were able to distinguish women who had miscarried from women who had
intentionally ended their pregnancies.) Many other studies have found no clear link at all.
Perhaps that's because different study populations, taken from all over the world, involve
different risk factors for premature birth; or it may be simply that the sample sizes in some
studies were too small to pick up relatively small differences between women who had had
abortions and those who had not.

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The big question, however, is how well data from the 1960s really represents American women
today. Back in the '60s, induced abortions were illegal in the U.S. It's possible that some women
in the study had abortions but denied it — even to their doctors — or claimed to have miscarried.
That makes the data harder to interpret. Illegal abortion techniques of the day, moreover, were no
doubt cruder than abortion procedures today, and they may have caused more permanent damage
to the reproductive system.

Indeed, the public-health implications of the JECH study may be more suitable for developing
countries, says Adera — places where abortion is still illegal, and where prenatal care may be
similar to what was offered in the U.S. half a century ago. Still, he says, all over the world,
"Women need to be informed about these risks."

Some women who perform or already performed abortion doesn’t know the risks of having an
abortion. And as it says from the above, the woman should have an ultrasound to know if the
abortion is successful. If not, it may cause infection inside the body of the women and it may kill
her.

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 VII. STAND OF THE GOVERNMENT
Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution says, in part, "Section 12. The State recognizes the
sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social
institution. It shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from
conception.

The act is criminalized by the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, which was enacted in 1930
and remains in effect today. Articles 256, 258 and 259 of the Code mandate imprisonment for the
woman who undergoes the abortion, as well as for any person who assists in the procedure, even
if they be the woman's parents, a physician or midwife. Article 258 further imposes a higher
prison term on the woman or her parents if the abortion is undertaken "in order to conceal [the
woman's] dishonor".

There is no law in the Philippines that expressly authorizes abortions in order to save the
woman's life; and the general provisions which do penalize abortion make no qualifications if the
woman's life is endangered. It may be argued that an abortion to save the mother's life could be
classified as a justifying circumstance (duress as opposed to self-defense) that would bar
criminal prosecution under the Revised Penal Code. However, this has yet to be adjudicated by
the Philippine Supreme Court.

Proposals to liberalize Philippine abortion laws have been opposed by the Catholic Church, and
its opposition has considerable influence in the predominantly Catholic country. However, the
constitutionality of abortion restrictions has yet to be challenged before the Philippine Supreme
Court.

The present Constitution of the Philippines, enacted in 1987, pronounces as among the policies
of the State that "[The State] shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn
from conception." (sec. 12, Art. II) The provision was crafted by the Constitutional Commission
which drafted the charter with the intention of providing for constitutional protection of the
abortion ban, although the enactment of a more definitive provision sanctioning the ban was not
successful. It is also notable that the provision is enumerated as among several state policies,
which are generally regarded in law as unenforceable in the absence of implementing legislation.
The 1987 RP Constitution also contains several other provisions enumerating various state
policies including, e.g., the affirmation of labor "as a primary social economic force" (Section
14, Article II); the equal protection of "the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from
conception" (Section 12, Article II); the "Filipino family as the foundation of the nation" (Article
XV, Section 1); the recognition of Filipino as "the national language of the Philippines" (Section
6, Article XVI, and even a requirement that "all educational institutions shall undertake regular
sports activities throughout the country in cooperation with athletic clubs and other sectors."
(Section 19.1, Article XIV) Whether these provisions may, by themselves, be the source of
enforceable rights without implementing legislation has been the subject of considerable debate
in the legal sphere and within the Supreme Court. The Court, for example, has ruled that a
provision requiring that the State "guarantee equal access to opportunities to public service"
could not be enforced without implementing legislation, and thus could not bar the disallowance

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of so-called "nuisance candidates" in presidential elections. However, in another case the Court
held that a provision requiring that the State "protect and advance the right of the people to a
balanced and healthful ecology" did not require implementing legislation to become the source
of operative rights. Any legal challenge to abortion restrictions in the Philippines would
necessarily have to evaluate the legal force given to Section 12, Article II of the Constitution.

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 VIII. STATISTICS
Abortion Practices in the Philippines
One study estimated that, despite legal restrictions, in 1994 there were 400,000 abortions
performed illegally in the Philippines and 80,000 hospitalizations of women for abortion-related
complications. 12% of all maternal deaths in 1994 were due to unsafe abortion according to the
Department of Health of the Philippines. Two-thirds of Filipino women who have abortions
attempt to self-induce or seek solutions from those who practice folk medicine.

The Department of Health has created a program to address the complications of unsafe abortion,
Prevention and Management of Abortion and its Complications. This program had been tested in
17 government-run hospitals by 2003.

ABORTION ACCESS IN THE U.S.

 It is conservatively estimated that one in five Medicaid-eligible women who want an

abortion cannot obtain one.
 In the U.S., 84% of all counties have no abortion services; of rural counties, 95% have no
services.
 Nine in ten abortion providers are located in metropolitan areas.
 Only 17 states fund abortions.
 Only 12% of OB/GYN residency programs train in first-trimester abortions; only 7% in
second-trimester abortions.
 Abortion is the most common OB/GYN surgical procedure; yet, almost half of
graduating OB/GYN residents have never performed a first-trimester abortion.
 Thirty-nine states have parental involvement laws requiring minors to notify and/or
obtain the consent of their parents in order to obtain an abortion.
 Twenty-one states require state-directed counseling before a woman may obtain an
abortion. (This is often called ``informed consent''; some critics call it a ``biased
information requirement.'')
 Many states require women seeking abortions to receive scripted lectures on fetal
development, prenatal care, and adoption.
 Twelve states currently enforce mandatory waiting periods following state- directed
counseling; this can result in long delays and higher costs.

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 IX. LIST OF REFERENCES
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/246346/history_of_abortion_pg6.html?cat=17
hfttp://ezinearticles.com/?A-Brief-History-of-Abortion&id=3348642
http://www.feminist.com/resources/ourbodies/abortion.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_Philippines
http://www.abortionconcern.org/abortion-info/cytotec.php
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1695927,00.html#ixzz1b2evNdQn
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=3424
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01046b.htm
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38205

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