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Health Reasons Why a Woman Would Need an Abortion

There are many health reasons why a woman would need an abortion; below is a cross-section of a few health reasons for which a woman may seek a termination of pregnancy. Abortion will always be a controversial topic; however, sometimes severe health problems far outweigh the benefits of carrying a baby to full-term.

  1. Considerations

    • Women suffering major depression disorders may find themselves headed for a relapse during pregnancy if not taking their regular medications. This puts both the mother and baby at risk and may be a significant health reason why a woman would need an abortion. The pressure of being pregnant along with the thought of having to care for a child until adulthood is too much of a burden, both physically and mentally, for some women with mental disorders and may facilitate a total mental relapse.

    Effects

    • Cancer patients and victims of autoimmune disorders should discuss, in depth, the risks associated with being pregnant and carrying a baby to full-term with their doctor. Starting off your pregnancy with a suppressed immune system due to cancer may adversely affect the growing fetus, especially if having cancer therapy, such as radiation or chemotherapy.

    Significance

    • A substantial health reason why a woman would need an abortion is if she were an alcoholic. Alcoholism adversely affects the baby resulting in FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) in which the alcohol severely inhibits the baby's brain development, leading to loss of gross and fine motor skills, speech defects (including being mute), deafness, vision impairment and retardation.

    Function

    • A women pregnant as the result of rape or incest may seek an abortion, along with intensive counseling. Rape victims, apart from not knowing the baby's father's history, mental or otherwise, would most likely seek help in getting a termination. Women who are victims of incest may need an abortion to avoid the adverse effects of natural gene selection, and the high risk of retardation of babies resulting from incestuous relationships.

    Features

    • Discovery of carrying a severely retarded and deformed baby with many genetic abnormalities is another reason that a woman may seek an abortion. Through fetal testing of older mothers such as amniocentesis, it is possible to detect severe abnormalities in the fetus that may cause stillbirth or result in the baby living only minutes outside of the uterus. For this reason, the woman may decide on abortion.

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