Ethics of Abortion :

Is it Moral or Immoral to
have an Abortion?
Abortion is a Serious Ethical Issue.
What is Abortion ?

the ending of pregnancy by

removing a fetus or embryo
before it can survive
outside the uterus.
 MISCARRIAGE

Spontaneous abortion caused

by disease, injury or some
disturbances of hormonal
regulation of pregnancy.
First Trimester Miscarriage
INDUCED ABORTION
Destruction of the life of the fetus or
the termination of pregnancy
deliberately produced by man.

It may be direct or indirect.

Induced Abortion
DIRECT ABORTION
Is the direct killing and
expulsion of fetus from
the uterus of the mother.
INDIRECT ABORTION
is just permitted but not directly intended
as though it were the means of helping
the mother in her physical distress.
In Catholic theology, indirect abortion is
any medical procedure which has a
therapeutic medical effect but also
results in an abortion as a "secondary
effect".
Who are having abortions?
Although women of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds
have induced abortions :
more poor women (68%) choose to have this procedure
compared to non-poor women (32%).
And because safe surgical abortions can cost as much as
P15,000, poor women are also more likely to have unsafe
abortions compared to their richer counterparts.

RESEARCHERS have also shown that 90% of the women

who have abortions are Catholic, and that 70% have some
high school education.
There are also regional differences in abortion rates. Metro Manila has
the highest rate at 52 per 1,000 women. This figure is almost double the
national average.
The rest of Luzon has a rate of 27 per 1,000 women, while Mindanao and
Visayas have a similar rate of 18 and 17 per 1,000 women respectively.
Post-abortion complications
Based on Guttmacher Institutes estimates, at
any given year, more than 78,000 women seek
post-abortion care in a medical facility and
800 to 1,000 Filipino women die of abortion
complications.

This high number of abortion-related

hospitalizations and deaths is due largely to
the unsafe methods that women resort to.
Core issue: unintended pregnancy
 Since 1930, abortion has been a crime under
Philippine law. The 1987 Philippine Constitution
further underlines this when it stated that the State
shall equally protect the life of the mother and
the life of the unborn from conception.

The Penal Code punishes both intentional and

unintentional abortion.
Penalties
for those found guilty of committing abortion range
from arresto mayor, or imprisonment of one
month and one day to six months.

PHARMACISTS to reclusion temporal, or

imprisonment of 12 years and one day to 20 years,
to those who caused intentional abortion through
violence.
DOCTORS & MIDWIVES are penalized with a six-
year imprisonment.
The woman and either or both her parents can
also get prison sentences of up to six years.
 RH Law Misconception #1
The Reproductive Health (RH) Law does not promote or
pave the way to abortion, since it even states that abortion remains
illegal in the Philippines.

RH Law wont
LEGALIZE ABORTION.
- Sen. Pia Cayetano
 Abortions worldwide
this year: 14,814,382
According to WHO, every year in the world there are an
estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to
approximately 125,000 abortions per day.
The Catholic Bishops
Conference of the Philippines
(CBCP), for instance, warned
the public that a
CONTRACEPTIVE MENTALITY
ABORTION MENTALITY