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Abortion Should Be Legalized PDF

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Lavenia Oviola, 18120223019

Mr. Adam James Fenton, Ph.D


Logic & Philosophy Class PR INTL 22

Abortion Be Legalized in Indonesia

In Indonesia, like many other developing countries, pregnant outside marriage is


considered as a disgrace to the family. Many women become pregnant unintentionally and
choose to end their pregnancies by doing an abortion. Even though, abortion is mostly illegal
in Indonesia. Based on health law No. 36 of 2009 article 75 paragraph 1, everyone is prohibited
from having an abortion. But there are two exceptions. Firstly, abortion can be performed if the
pregnancy is the result of rape. Secondly, if the pregnancy is not medically viable or threatens
the health of the pregnant woman. However, the law is very confusing and contradictory.
The law says that abortion because of rape can only be done if the pregnancy is under
40 days. But in reality, many women do not find out they are pregnant until 10-12 weeks into
the pregnancy, by which time they are no longer eligible to have a legal abortion. Therefore the
requirement for a woman to do an abortion does not make any sense. It is clear that the problem
lies in a brief grace period to decide to do an abortion.
If a woman decides to do an abortion without following the state’s procedures, She will
be accused of committing a crime and will face imprisonment. There is no protection at all for
the rape victims. Even if the victim seeks help, she will face challenges to access medical care.
Because the abortion process is complicated, time-consuming, and pricey. Many people take
matters into their own hand. And it is estimated that unsafe abortion is responsible for about
11-14 percent of maternal mortality (392 in 100,000 live birth). In other words, there are 43-55
women who die due to unsafe abortion. The exact number may be higher due to be unrecorded.
When people try to do “home-remedies” abortion, most of them do it with limited
equipment, knowledge, and of course lack of necessary skills. Some of these women try to use
medicine or even worst do self conflicted trauma. This is very dangerous because it is not
carried out under medical supervision. And can lead to the complication and even death of the
pregnant woman. According to WHO (World Health Organization), the highest rate of women
aged 15-44 who undergo unsafe abortion is Southeast Asia at 26 per 1000 women. The maternal
mortality rate due to unsafe abortion increases (up to 16%) for Southeast Asia countries with
strict abortion law. This number is 2% higher than the average number of maternal mortality
throughout Southeast Asia which is 14%
Contradicting to all this, Indonesia is a religious country with most of its population
being Muslim. Like most religious countries, abortion has a bad stigma and is ethically
immoral. First, they claim that fetus is regarded as a human being. Second, that killing an
innocent human being is morally wrong. Third, abortion is an act of killing a human being. So,
engaging in abortion is considered morally wrong. And killing is forbidden according to any
religion. It is true that norms and religious can be stricture. However, human and society evolve.
For instance, the use of contraceptives used to be prohibited by religious groups, but now is
widely use and have great benefit for today society.
People have a point for thinking like that. However, can a fetus really consider as a
human being since first conceived? What is the borderline? There is this dilemma due to
vagueness in the concept of what is considered a fetus and human being. But according to
medical term, the organism in the first 9th weeks of gestation in medical term is called an
embryo. In addition to that, according to the WHO (2012), it is safe to do an abortion for
pregnancies of gestational age up to 12-14 weeks.
On the other hand, a fetus is a part of the pregnant’s body. And woman’s right needs to
be to take into account. Is it really necessary for a teenage girl to put her dream aside to raise a
baby? Or for a woman to deliver a baby result of rape or forced incest? A woman has the right
to determine what she wants to do with her body. Not only that, she has the right to be happy.
In contrast, if women are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies that may cause not only health
but also mental issues. One study from Prague concluded that retaining unwanted pregnancies
entailed an increased risk of negative psychosocial development and mental well-being in
adulthood (Sundawa, 2104).
My conclusion is, to minimize the unsafe abortion rate abortions should be permitted
by the law. Not only would this reduce maternal deaths but also future mental health problems.
Women should have the right to choose for themselves regardless of the circumstances that led
to their pregnancy. Everyone deserves access to better health care regardless of sociocultural
values.

References

Llewellyn, A. (2018, August 14). Compounding Trauma: Indonesia's Abortion Law.


Retrieved from https://thediplomat.com/2018/08/compounding-trauma-indonesias-
abortion-law/
S. D. (2009). Fetus as Human Being: Where is the Cut-off Point? [Abstract]. J Med
Ethics Hist Med.,2. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3713799/.
Stöppler, M. C. (2017, July 31). Embryo vs. Fetus: The First 27 Weeks of Pregnancy (J. P.
Cunha, Ed.). Retrieved from
https://www.medicinenet.com/embryo_vs_fetus_differences_week-by-
week/article.htm#fetal_period_week_#12_to_week_#40
Sundawa, S. P. (2014, August 24). Why Indonesia should legalize abortion. Retrieved from
https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/24/why-indonesia-should-legalize-
abortion.html
WHO press. (2012). Safe abortion: Technical and policy guidance for health systems
(2nd ed.) (World Health Organization).

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