WHY DO WOMEN HAVE ABORTIONS?
There are so many different answers, because there are so many different women, who have different lives, experiences and circumstances. One thing common to many, in my experience, and from talking to people who deal with abortion daily, is that for most women it is not a simple decision to make.
Abortion is not an easy answer, or an alternative to using contraception, as the anti-abortion lobby feared it would be when it was legalised.
In Australia the majority of abortions are performed on women who have an unplanned, unwanted pregnancy. A woman is likely to have used contraception to try to prevent this happening bur, as clearly stated in chapter 4, all currently used methods (with the exception of total abstinence) have a definite failure rate. It may be that she and her partner were not using the contraception properly, or were not aware of its limitations. She may have been in a situation where contraception was not available to her, if she did not consent to having sex.
For a variety of reasons a woman may not be able to contemplate continuing with a pregnancy. Having a baby can be a wonderful prospect for some, and the most devastating to others.
Sometimes there are other medical reasons for terminating pregnancies. If a foetus is found to have major abnormalities on tests done during early pregnancy a woman may decide not to continue with the pregnancy. If a woman has certain infections during the early stages of pregnancy, or is on some form of medication which could harm a foetus, termination is sometimes sought. The same legal guidelines are still met.
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