Abortion in the Philippines

Abortion. A process in which the gestation of a mother is terminated prematurely wherein the conceptus or the so-called fetus is removed which will ultimately kill it. Abortion has two main types. These are the “induced abortion” and “spontaneous abortion”.

From the words itself, induce abortion is the INTENTIONAL termination of life of a fetus. It is either by medical or surgical. In the use of medical abortion, the abortion is induced by administering drugs/medication that would both directly poison the conceptus and eventually kill it or by inducing the contraction of the mothers’ uterus to expel the conceptus. On the other hand, surgical abortion is an invasive procedure done to remove the conceptus from the mothers’ womb. The process may depend on the age of gestation( age of the conceptus).

Euthanasia (eu (well or good) + thanatos (death)) refers to the practice of ending a life in a manner which relieves pain and suffering. According to the House of Lords Select Committee on Medical Ethics, the precise definition of euthanasia is “a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering.”

By the definitions, abortion may be considered as euthanasia if and only if the abortion is made when the mother’s life is also threatened just like in the case on Rh incompatibility (a case wherein the mother’s system rejects the system of the conceptus, as in the case of allergic reaction) in this case both the mother and the conceptus are in danger. In most cases, the mother is the one that is salvaged meaning an abortion have to take place.

There is no other way to stop abortion other than avoiding UNWANTED PREGNANCY which is the number one reason why women have abortion. To avoid unwanted pregnancies couples have to know all about sex, pregnancy and the conditions it may result to in the future. Couples should be educated properly with the whereabouts of conceiving. Nowadays, teenage/premarital sex/pregnancy is the most prevailing reason why women engage into abortion. The youngsters today have these extremely levels of curiosity that causes them to experiment on things and even on theirs sex and sexuality.

There are a lot of reasons why women engage to this heinous crime. It either may be because they don’t want to get pregnant or that it was because the pregnancy was not wanted or because the woman was left by the man who impregnated her. These are just few of the common reasons why women have abortion.

The Catholic Church (not only the Catholics but as well as the other Christian communities) strongly disagree with this matter. Any induced termination of life is considered a sin. From the Bible Deuteronomy 5:17, ‘You shall not kill/murder.” Not only does Christians, but even our Muslim brothers and sisters disagree with these. From the Quran “….anyone who murders any person who had not committed murder or horrendous crimes, it shall be as if he murdered all the people.” (Qur’an 5:32).

You might be wondering why other countries allow abortion is prohibited here in the Philippines. The answer… simple… SECULARIZARION. Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious (or “irreligious”) values and secular institutions. Secularization thesis refers to the belief that as societies “progress”, particularly through modernization and rationalization, religion loses its authority in all aspects of social life and governance. Although the Philippine Constitution of 1987 calls for secularization, the Filipinos are considerably one of the most conservative people. Being under the rule of the Christian Spaniards for almost four centuries, Filipinos now have a hard time moving on from the culture of being a conservative Christians.