Abortion: Pregnancy and Documentary Essay

Submitted By ARENEEPINDER
Words: 822
Pages: 4

Before watching this documentary, I was quite confident that I was completely against abortion. Being a Christian, I felt that it was the wrong thing to do and that if a woman got pregnant, God had a plan for her and for her baby. However, I also felt that there were certain situations where abortion might be permissible, as everyone has a different story, and I was never one to judge another person for their personal actions. I was therefore interested in watching this documentary to get a better insight of the process of abortion. The documentary started off by stating that there were approximately 3,000 first trimester abortions performed. I did not expect the number to be so high and it took me by surprise. I was stunned to know that there were so many women who wanted to get rid of the life that was growing inside of them. One tends to think of pregnancy as a precious gift and relates it to happiness and joy. The thought of a woman wanting to throw that away surprised me and the more I thought about it, it aggravated me. However, the documentary continued I started to realize that the women who came to this abortion clinic had genuine, logical reasons for going through with an abortion. They have examined all their options and sincerely felt that they were doing what was of best interest. The second thing that surprised me in this documentary was how formal the clinic actually was. Although this may sound a bit arrogant, when I would think about abortions I would think of ‘back alley abortions’ where unsanitary instruments were used by someone who may or may not have been a licensed doctor. The abortion clinic in this documentary resembled any other health clinic. It contained doctors who were dressed like any other doctor, with nurses and sterile instruments. The procedure of these abortions is thought of no differently than the procedures for any other surgery. Also, before the abortion is performed, the patients talk with counselors within the clinic about reasons they want the abortion, if they know all of their options and if it was something they truly wanted to do. This made me a little less uncomfortable about the process because it was clear that the workers in the clinic cared about their patients and did not want them to have any regrets. They wanted their patients to consider abortion their only resort. I thought that the doctor would be cold-hearted and indifferent, but he made sure people knew otherwise. Helen, who was the first woman to have an abortion in the documentary, stated that she felt it was a woman’s responsibility to make sure that either her sexual partner or herself have some form of birth control. I completely agree with her. Although it takes both of them to produce a baby, in today’s world a woman has greater consequences if she gets pregnant than of a man gets a woman pregnant. Watching the abortions take place served as a very difficult task for me, especially with Barbara. I