The most beautiful part of womanhood, it is said, is the ability to bring forth a new life. But this can prove to be a curse if the new life is unwanted. Unprecedented advances in modern science have, however, empowered a woman to decide whether she wants to give birth or not. Though the word abortion has come out of wraps over the years, it is still being used unscrupulously by many a doctor and patient.
Doctors feel there is a lack of general awareness about the medical and psychosocial aspect of abortion. In spite of the availability of qualified doctors and hospitals many people still land in unqualified hands of Dais, quacks and midwives who use dangerous intra-vaginal instruments for abortion. This can cause serious complications, even leading to the death of the patient. The main reasons for these abortions were found to be unwanted pregnancy, financial strain and female feticide in present days.
Women in many sections of our society still do not have the right over their wombs and are made to undergo forcible and repeated abortions to get rid of a female fetus, oblivious to the far reaching effects of repeated abortions. Quiet a few couples also decide to go for an abortion due to financial, medical or inevitable reasons :
RISKS OF REPEATED ABORTIONS:
* Injury to cervix leading to spontaneous abortions in subsequent pregnancy.
* Uterus becomes weak in musculature.
* Intra-uterine adhesions.
* Uterine perforation.
* Damage to the intestines
* Infection and blockage of fallopian tubes.
* AIDS , CANCER
* Genital track tuberculosis
* Abortion in some cases due to excessive bleeding / Severe Anemia
* Abortion due to excitement.
* Abortion due to suppressed grief.
* Abortion may occur due to fright, exertion or after injuries.
* Acute infection ( Viral, parasitical, protozoa infection) in the first trimester of pregnancy lead to abortion.
* Hormonal deficiency.
* Blood group incompatibility.
* Trauma / fall / blow on the abdominal wall.
* Maternal Hypothyroidism / hyperthyroidism.
* Severe Hypertension.
* Psychological ? Emotionally upset / excitement may lead to abortion as it affects the uterine activity.
* Septic abortion that may lead to generalized peritonitis, endotoxic shock or acute renal failure.
Doctors feel that couples should go in for abortion only if the fetus is incapable of survival, is defective, has a chromosomal abnormality or a chemical or teratogenic exposure. Abortion can also be considered if the mother is a Cancer patient or has a heart disease. Abortion is something that should not be taken lightly either by the patient or the Doctor. It should not be used as a method of family planning. Use contraceptives wisely and plan your family taking good care of your diet, health and lifestyle. As educated women, we must weigh risk against benefits when considering an abortion . Remember , the decision we make will have an impact on our chances of having healthy babies later.
Female feticide is the mal-practice which is chiefly prevalent in our country (spl in our region). It is more commonly found in the people who are at or below their own definitions with regard to income i.e. males are the earning hand while females are considered burden on their parents. Secondly, it?s a common belief that their name remains in the world after them because of their sons.
This act not only leads to the mercy killing of an innocent one but also sometimes, add the worries of the couples to get the taste of parenthood. With the feticide , it may bring ill health for the women disturbing her normal menstrual cycles. It leads to imbalance between male or female, the number of male / 1000 female increase. Female feticide should be abolished not from our country but world-wide too. One must have a repentance on this shameful act.
Habitual abortion
There are patients who can conceive with no difficulty but who repeatedly abort in the early months of pregnancy. The most recent statistics of the frequency of abortion give figure of 10 % got all the pregnancies, cases of illegal abortions being excluded. Of these 10 % some recur with succeeding pregnancies. It is best to define habitual abortion as those cases in which spontaneous abortion occurs more than 3-times in succession. It is estimated that these cases of this malady is not simple.
The main causative factors are the following :
1. Syphilis ranks first. Abortion occurs in syphilitic cases only after 20th week of pregnancy. The typical history given by the syphilitic patients shows that succeeding miscarriages or abortions occurs later in pregnancy, and if there is positive, legal or illegal , one should not advise to abort it unless there is some serious complication or disease like AIDS, Cancer, tuberculosis or fetal infection of virus. This is the stage where fault in conceiving for future may develop.
2. Another cause is the ill development of the uterus. Such patients give history of a late onset of puberty, irregular and scanty menstruation, which is frequently associated with pain.
3. Yet another cause is retroflexion of the uterus.
4. Repeated abortion may follow sometimes after difficult delivery at term.
If both the partners, as a result of investigations, appear to be normal and are below thirty, give a reasonable time for conception and advise against frequent coitus. Tell them also the likely days of ovulation, say fourteen-day prior the onset of the period.
Assuming the husband to be normal, the wife may have to be treated for defective production of normal ovum, obstruction of the spermatozoa and for the failure of the ovum to imbed. Organic cause must be removed.
Nowadays not only western countries but also in India artificial insemination is resorted to where conception is impossible by normal method due to deformity of the male.
Maternal Instruction : As puberty advances, no mother should neglect to teach her daughter to expect
the change which is about to take place so that the first appearance of the menstrual flow may neither be arrested by the alarm, naturally felt at something hitherto inexperienced or unknown, nor by the dangerous applications to which in her ignorance she may otherwise secretly resort to. Some young women view the development of this function with such disgust, that they expose themselves carelessly or purposely during the period , use cold baths or other means of suppression and thus finally bring on disordered menstruation and permanent ill-health. Many such cases have occurred within our experience.
Many a girl reaches the age of puberty and does some act at that time, whose results follow her all the days of her life because her mother was prude, a fool or a knave and therefore failed to instruct her daughter.
In certain cases both the partners may be perfectly normal but they fail to produce any child. There is a possibility that these cases represent true incompatibility so that both the partners may be fertile with another partner. On the other hand there are cases reported where normal people may be infertile for many years and yet quite late in her child bearing period of life, the female conceives for no obvious reasons. The period of maximum fertility of a woman is between 19 to 25 years. The chances of women conceiving after 40 years are very little. The Chinese claim, with the use of Ginseng even women after sixty conceive.
Sterile women have given birth to healthy children by its continuous use.
We know only women can give birth to next generation, so must learn to give respect and honor the Womanhood. In the end, I would like to the quote a line to follow up :
” A son is a son till he gets his Wife;
A daughter is a Daughter till the end of her Life”
We must give the females the healthy and prosperous atmosphere to live. We say India is a Democratic Country and everyone has right to live, then Why the female feticide only ? WHY ? ?
Mahatma Gandhi has well quote about women :
?They call women the weaker sex ; it is injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength , then indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then, woman is immeasurably man?s superior.
Woman is he companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacities, she has the right to participate in very minutest detail in the activities of man and she has an equal right of freedom and liberty with him ?
Whether it?s an male or female child both are the kind blessings of Lord. The girl child who gets killed in the Womb most of the time and is not given a chance to be born should be focused . Female feticide amounted to murder and was heinous sin. Moreover, females were outsmarting boys in each and every field. It?s an need of an hour, that Govt. should organize a spate of programs to educate the people about the importance of correct balance between male and female ratio, sadly, the ratio is getting deplorable.
If we give a look at the culture of the western countries, we find it?s in a reverse order i.e. there the female child gets importance.
We must condemned the ultrasound tests for the determination of the sex of the child and led to female feticide. The decreased ratio of females would cause repercussion in the society. But now we must appreciate the Government which has introduced various schemes for girl child. Homoeopathic Solution
Incase where some medical problem comes, correct constitutional homoeo treatment should be taken to avoid abortions/ feticide , to carry on with pregnancy safely and successfully. We have number of remedies to combat such problems.
By:
Dr. Sudarshan Bhatti,
133-Ashapuri,Behind Aggar Nagar-A
Ludhiana (PB) Ph 0161-255192
Dr S S VITHAL,
SCF -17,Samadhi Road,
KHANNA-(Pb) Ph 01628-221093,226092