Abortion

abortion . The word abortion comes from the Latin abortus , which in turn is derived from the term aborior . This concept was used to refer to the opposite of orior , that is, the opposite of being born.

Summary

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  • 1 Definition
  • 2 History of abortion
  • 3 Practice of abortion in Cuba
  • 4 Legal acceptance
  • 5 Current situation
    • 1Práctica inevitable
    • 2 Appropriate clinical conditions
  • 6 Types of abortion
    • 1 Miscarriage
    • 2 Induced abortion
  • 7Riesgos
  • 8 See Also
  • 9 external links
  • 10Fuentes

Definition

An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy . It is the death and expulsion of the fetus before five months of pregnancy. After this date, and up to 28 weeks of pregnancy , it is called immature labor and premature labor if it is more than 28 weeks. A complete abortion is said to occur when the placenta and membranes are expelled with the fetus . There is placental retention when only the fetus is expelled and it is said that there are uterine remains when only part of the product of conception is expelled. Sometimes it is difficult to really distinguish what has been expelled, given the alterations that not only the fetus suffers , but also the placentaand the membranes .

history of abortion

In ancient times performing abortions was a widespread method of birth control . It was later restricted or banned by most religions, but was not considered illegal until the 19th century . Abortion was prohibited to protect women from surgical interventions that, at that time, were not exempt from risk; the only situation in which its practice was allowed was when the life of the mother was in danger. Abortion was also sometimes permitted when there were risks to maternal health. During the 20th century , legislation has liberalized the interruption of pregnanciesunwanted in various medical, social or particular situations. Abortions at the express will of the mother were first legalized in post-revolutionary Russia in 1920 ; they were later allowed in Japan and some Eastern European countries after World War II .

In the late 1960s , the decriminalization of abortion spread to many countries. The reasons for these legal changes were of three types:

  1. Infanticide and maternal mortality associated with the practice of illegal abortions.
  2. World overpopulation .
  3. The rise of the feminist movement .

By 1980 , 20% of the world’s population lived in countries where legislation only allowed abortion in situations of risk to the life of the mother.

Another 40% of the world population resided in countries where abortion was allowed in certain supposed risks to maternal health, situations of rape or incest , presence of congenital or genetic alterations in the fetus or in special social situations ( single mothers or with low income).

Another 40% of the world population resided in countries where abortion was liberalized with the only conditions being the legal deadlines for its performance.

The justification put forward by feminist groups is:

I decide if I abort or not because it is my body.

It is worth emphasizing that the product of conception is a living being, it does not belong to the body of the mother that houses it.

legal acceptance

No to abuse, as long as you act responsibly. The truth is that the right to have high-quality abortion services and to opt for voluntary abortion based on the free right of the woman or the couple to decide on their reproduction , is an achievement of Cuban women in their struggle for full exercise of gender equality achieved since the early 1960s.

This legal acceptance also took into account the need to reduce complications due to the widespread and indiscriminate practice of illegal abortions , highly risky, which was accepted and tolerated in the country with the result of high maternal mortality , and high rates of mutilations. and complications.

Current situation

Voluntary abortions that are performed represent half of those that were performed 12 years ago and menstrual regulations decrease significantly, as well as interruptions in those under 20 years of age.

It is estimated that about 20 percent of abortions are related to contraceptive failure , and a similar percentage could be prevented by the decision of the couple or the woman if she practices conscious contraception.

unavoidable practice

Sex education and efforts aimed at promoting responsible behavior in relationships, specifically sexual ones based on mutual respect, understanding and love, undoubtedly make it possible to avoid unwanted and untimely pregnancies that end in abortion. The other way is to have better contraceptive services and a greater variety of contraceptives .

Appropriate clinical conditions

Although it is a relatively simple and safe procedure, the truth is that it is a risky procedure, which is done blindly and can have complications even in the best services and the best hands.

Types of abortion

Abortion can be spontaneous or induced. Fetuses expelled with less than 0.5 kg of weight or 20 weeks of gestation are considered abortions.

Spontaneous abortion

It is estimated that 25% of all human pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion , and three quarters of abortions occur in the first three months of pregnancy . Some women have a certain predisposition to have abortions, and with each successive abortion the chances of carrying the pregnancy to term decrease. The causes of miscarriage are not exactly known. In half of the cases, there is an alteration in the development of the embryo or the placental tissue , which may be the consequence of disorders of the germ cells themselves or of an alteration of the implantation of the developing ovum .

It can also be a consequence of alterations in the maternal environment. It is known that some severe vitamin deficiencies can cause abortions in experimental animals. Some women who have had repeated miscarriages have hormonal changes . Other miscarriages may result from abnormal maternal conditions, such as acute infectious diseases, systemic diseases such as nephritis , diabetes , or severe trauma . Uterine malformations and tumors can also be the cause; extreme anxiety and other mental disturbancesthey can contribute to the premature expulsion of the fetus .

The most common symptom of a threatened miscarriage is vaginal bleeding , with or without intermittent pain . However, a quarter of pregnant women have small blood losses during the early stages of pregnancy, and of these 50% carry the pregnancy to term. Treatment for a situation at risk of abortion consists of bed rest. In women with multiple miscarriages, bed rest may be necessary throughout the pregnancy. Treatment with vitamins and hormones can also be effective. Sometimes uterine abnormalities must be surgically corrected if they are the cause of recurrent miscarriages.

In a miscarriage , the contents of the uterus may be expelled in whole or in part; however, sometimes the dead embryo can remain inside the uterus for weeks or months: this is called missed abortion . Most doctors recommend surgical excision of any embryonic or placental remnants to eliminate the possibility of infection or irritation of the uterine lining.

Induced abortion

Induced abortion is the deliberate termination of pregnancy by removal of the fetus from the uterine cavity . Depending on the gestation period in which it is performed, one or another of the following four surgical interventions is used : Suction or aspiration can be performed during the first trimester (up to the twelfth week). Through the use of successive dilators to gain access to the uterine cavity through the cervix (neck of the uterus), a flexible tube connected to a vacuum pump called a cannula is inserted to extract the uterine content. It can be done in a period of time ranging from five to ten minutes in outpatients.

A curette (spoon-shaped metal instrument) is then inserted to scrape off any remaining uterine lining. The aspiration method, introduced in China in 1958, soon replaced the earlier dilation and curettage method (in which the curette was used to remove the fetus). During the first part of the second trimester, termination of pregnancy can be performed by a special suction-curettage technique combined sometimes with forceps , called dilation and evacuation (DE). The patient must remain hospitalized since there may be bleeding and discomfort after the intervention.

From the 15th week of gestation, the method used is saline infusions . This technique uses a hypodermic needle or fine tube to withdraw a small amount of amniotic fluid from the uterus through the abdominal wall . This liquid is slowly replaced by a 20% concentrated saline solution . Between 24 and 48 hours, uterine contractions begin to occur , which cause the expulsion of the fetus and the patient can leave the hospital one or two days later.

Late – term abortions are performed by hysterotomy : This is a major surgical procedure , similar to a cesarean section , but performed through a smaller incision in the lower abdomen . As an alternative to these procedures, there is a pill called RU-486 that blocks the hormone progesterone and is effective in the first 50 days of pregnancy. The RU-486 was developed in France and in 1988 its use was legalized.

First-trimester abortions are relatively simple and safe when performed under proper clinical conditions. The risks of complications increase in parallel with the age of the pregnant woman and consist of infections, injuries to the cervix , uterine perforation, and hemorrhage . There are specific clinical situations in which an induced abortion , even a late one, poses less risk to the patient than the termination of the pregnancy.

risks

The most common are the persistence of ovular remnants, the so-called incomplete abortion , with a high incidence of infection , hemorrhagic complications are also frequent, and traumatic injuries such as uterine perforations. Sometimes the evolution of these complications can endanger the life of the woman.

 

by Abdullah Sam
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