Question

Please write a policy debate essay on Abortion. Read more instructions below.

Your first paragraph should state the legal policy problem in exact terms and why it is important.

Use the policy debate format to analyze the problem. As the authors of the text argue, feminists disagree over many legal issues that affect women. The pro versus con format is a simple but informative way to discuss your topic.

In the final (concluding) paragraph, sum up (briefly) the arguments you presented in your paper. Then, take a position and explain why you agree with one side or the other.

Answer 1

ABORTION

The majority of women still do not have access to safe abortions. The article traces the history of the law and the policy on abortion in India since the 1960s and research on these services. Amendments in 2002 and 2003 to the Medical Termination of Accession Act, 1971 - including the transfer of service regulations to districts, punitive measures to discourage clandestine abortions, rationalization of equipment to perform early abortions, and the certification of medical abortion - aimed at making services safer. Amendments to prevent sex-selective abortions of the foetus, contrary to ethics and confidentiality, have not been adopted. Chronic problems restrict access, for example, insufficient regulation of public and private services "all-medical" policy, which excludes intermediate providers, and the low level of accreditation of rural clinics compared to urban dispensaries. Other barriers include ignorance of the law, the unnecessary requirement of spousal consent, abortion-related contraceptive goals, and high costs. To increase access to safe care, more providers need to be trained, the registration procedures simplified, the approval of clinics and providers separated, and the policy combined with modern technology, research and good clinical practice and the low level of accreditation of rural clinics compared to urban dispensaries. Other barriers include ignorance of the law, the unnecessary requirement of spousal consent, abortion-related contraceptive goals, and high costs. To increase access to safe care, more providers need to be trained, the registration procedures simplified, the approval of clinics and providers separated, and the policy combined with modern technology, research and good clinical practice and the low level of accreditation of rural clinics compared to urban dispensaries. Other barriers include ignorance of the law, the unnecessary requirement of spousal consent, abortion-related contraceptive goals, and high costs. To increase access to safe care, more providers need to be trained, the registration procedures simplified, the approval of clinics and providers separated, and the policy combined with modern technology, research and good clinical practice.

Recent law and policy reforms, though not radical, still represent a step forward towards ensuring a woman’s right to safe abortion care. It is only in recent years that several national-level consultative efforts for improving access to safe abortion services in India. Professional’s bodies like the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Societies of India (FOGSI) and the Indian Medical Association (IMA), NGOs and health activists, have championed the improvement of access to safe and legal abortion services in India.

They include:

• increasing availability and access to safe abortion services
• creating more qualified providers (including mid-level providers) and facilities, especially in rural areas
• simplifying the certification process
• de-linking clinic and provider certification
• linking policy with technology and research and good clinical practice
• applying uniform standards for both the private and public sectors, and
• ensuring quality of abortion care.

Increasing awareness and dispelling misconceptions about the abortion law amongst providers and policymakers is just one step towards this. There is a need to enhance awareness of both contraceptive and abortion services, especially amongst adolescents, within the larger context of sexual and reproductive health, integrating strategies and interventions within value systems and family and gender relations

For these policies to be implemented effectively, they need to be backed by political will and commitment in terms of adequate resource allocation, training and infrastructure support, accompanied by social inputs based on women’s needs. Advocacy and action at both central and state level are required to put the operational strategies relevant to abortion, as detailed in the National Population Policy, 2000 into effect.

Unwanted pregnancies can be very stressful for women. Whether or not women have the right to have abortions is a controversial subject. Opponents of abortions believe that abortion is seriously wrong. Killing a foetus is killing a person. However, women should be able to have abortions for several reasons. Women should have the right to make decisions about their own bodies. Women should be able to have an abortion if they are too young and unable to take care their babies. And the right to have an abortion if the pregnancy negatively affects the women's or the babies’ health.

It is women's right to make decisions about their own bodies. Having control over their own bodies is an important part of the equal rights that women have fount for. According to socialist worker, Women have the right to control their own body and reproductive lives. Therefore, no one has the right to tell a woman what she can or cannot do with her body.
Another reason that women should be able to have abortions is in case the mothers are too young and unable to take care their babies. Unwanted pregnancies can be very stressful for women. Therefore, if they think they cannot give their babies a good life then it is right for them to have abortions. For example, one of my friends was pregnant when she was 19. She and her baby's father were still in college by that time. Neither had a job and they knew that they could not afford to buy food and provided medical care for their baby. My friend got an abortion, even though it was the hardest decision of her life. She knew that it would be better, however, for her own life and because she could not properly take care of the baby. Critics of abortion say stopping a foetus’s life is wrong. But if the baby’s health is at question during the pregnancy a woman should have the right to choose for herself. The reason is I believe that continuing a dangerous pregnancy will put a woman in a dangerous situation and will bring the baby into a life of sickness. In pre-pregnancy diabetes raises risk of birth defects, if a woman gets pregnant and she has a history of heart disease then continuing the pregnancy would put both her and her baby at risk. A woman with a history of heart disease should avoid pregnancy because of the high risk of death or she will give birth to a baby with birth defects. Therefore, it is right if a woman choses to get aborted in this case.

Advocates of abortion believe that death is harmful for the foetus and the foetus has the right to have a life just like ours. Death seriously harms the foetus and so the foetus has a right to life because death deprives the foetus of conscious goods which it is the foetus's biological natural to make itself have " . However when a woman's health is at risk or they will give birth to a child with defects then abortion would be better for the mother and for the baby. If we know the child will be born with defects then there is no point in having the mother keep the baby if she chooses not to.

In conclusion, I believe that women have the right to have abortions. First, women have the right to control their own bodies. Second, they have the right to have abortions if the pregnancies will affect their health and their babies health in a harmful way. Third, women have the right to have abortions if they have been raped. Also advocates of abortion believe that abortion is seriously wrong but women should do what is best for them and their babies.