Lately there have been some posts from people talking about women who use abortion almost like contraceptive method. “I know women who have already had an abortion 10 times by the age of 35.” It makes sense that this kind of publication, which can be read mainly on X (formerly Twitter), has caused a great stir among abortion detractors and defenders. The first use these messages as an example of the risks of leaving women interrupt freely. On the other hand, the latter warn that these publications are false. Who is right?
In fact, regardless of the opinion of the person writing this article, the numbers are what they are. Is it true that there are people who have abortions many times throughout their lives? Well, some of these publications come from Latin American countries, some of which do not prohibit abortion. not even legal. This makes it even more difficult to have abortions many times. So we’re going to focus on data from Spain.
We will also see how abortions are done and what consequences those making the decision face. Because no, it’s generally not a fad, no matter how hard anti-abortion people insist it seems that way.
Recent changes in Spain
In Spain, the 2023 abortion law added some changes by 2010. This makes abortion easier to access, but does not make the decision easy.
Among the most important changes are age and days of reflection. On the one hand, while previously minors had to undergo abortion with the permission of their guardians, this has been changed to include minors in the latest modification. 16 years. On the other hand, previously women planning to have an abortion had to receive information not only about existing methods of terminating a pregnancy. Also about help in family planning. Once this was done they were left three days of reflectionto make sure they really wanted to terminate the pregnancy.
All this has been changed, so Now the information is purely medical. If the patient needs more information, she should request it. And no thinking is needed. That being said, what are the steps to terminate a pregnancy?
In our country, if there are no fetal malformations, abortion can be done before week 14 pregnancy. If you go to the clinic before the 7th week, you can choose a pharmacological abortion. Consists of taking two tablets. mifepristone and misoprostol. The first is responsible for blocking the action of the hormone progesterone, which is so important during pregnancy and causes dilation of the cervix. As for the second, it causes contractions of the uterus, which help remove any remaining cells that may remain.
After 7 weeks there is already a possibility of termination of pregnancy. surgical. Usually curettage is carried out manual aspiration, under anesthesia or sedation of the patient. In both cases, subsequent side effects are usually vaginal bleeding, dizziness, abdominal pain, fatigue and nausea. And all this is not counting the psychological consequences. There may be cases of reactive depression, anxiety or eating disorders, for example. And, no matter how voluntary the decision may be, it is still very difficult to make.
Unknown psychological part
In 2005, a group of scientists from the University of Oslo in Norway conducted a study comparing the psychological consequences of natural abortion and voluntary termination of pregnancy. It was observed that since the abortion was recently performed, 47.5% of women who would have had an abortion spontaneous abortion They reported some kind of trauma or emotional pain. When voluntary abortionsobserved in only 30% of women.
However, after 5-year follow-upIt was observed that while 20% of women who voluntarily had an abortion still experienced stress, those who had spontaneous abortions experienced stress only 2.6% of the time. This refers to spontaneous abortions in early pregnancy. Cases of perinatal mortality or late pregnancy abortions are, of course, very different.
From all this it follows that voluntary interruption This is not an easy decision. Maintaining an unwanted pregnancy is psychologically difficult, but making the decision to terminate it is also difficult. Would someone voluntarily choose to go through bleeding, pain and severe psychological consequences multiple times throughout their life? It is hard to imagine.
Pregnancy rates in Spain
Total in 2022 98,316 women. It’s true that more than a third have had unprotected sex. However, 26.4% used barrier methods, for example, condoms, and 16.9% – some kind of hormonal methods. This clearly indicates that a significant proportion of women who have abortions do not do so as a method of contraception. It’s not about, “Let’s do it anyway and if I get pregnant, I’ll have an abortion.” Accidents happen. Even those who didn’t use any method would probably believe they wouldn’t get pregnant. This is not done lightly and therefore it is not easy to do. repeatedly.
Actually the same year only ⅖ of women who had abortions They had already had an abortion before. And only one 0.79% I had an abortion more than 5 times. It would be necessary to find out their circumstances, but most likely this is not simple indifference.
In any case, what is clear is that in Spain, as in many other countries, active sexuality education is still needed. It is necessary to debunk myths and educate about contraceptive methods. For this sex education This is vitally important from school onwards. The people who complain about holding such seminars for their children are the same people who later complain about abortion. But in fact, the first avoids the second. It is inconsistent to oppose solutions to what they perceive to be a problem. This is certainly something that a lot of people need to think about.
Source: Hiper Textual
