Results of my Survey

Thank you for cooperating with my survey. I will show you the results of it.
16 people took my survey.
①
Most of them are from 19 to 21 years old, 3 people are in their fifties, and only 1 person is 70  years old.
The ratio of men to women is 2 to 14.
3 people are American and others are Japanese.

②Are you pro-choice or pro-life?

50% of them are pro-life, 31.3% are pro-choice, and others answered "neither".

③This is a question for women. If you become pregnant against your will, would you have an abortion? Please choose yes or no and explain your opinion.

9 women chose "yes", and others chose "no".
The main reason they chose "yes" is that they couldn't love their child if they gave birth to their child in such a situation.
In contrast, the main reason they chose "no" is that they think they are responsible for their baby's life and they must make thier child happy.

④This is a question for men. If your dearest woman becomes pregnant against her will, would you want her to have an abortion ? Please choose yes or no and explain your opinion.

Both men chose "yes".
One of them said "I would leave the decision to her. It might be a very difficult one for her."

⑤There are many teenagers who have an abortion in Japan. What do you think about this problem? In your opinion, what is the best solution for this problem?

14 out of 15 persons answered that teenagers' abortion is not good.
These are parts of their opinions.
・Many Japanese teen-ager can't think about life and pregnancy seriously, I think. Japanese schools don't teach enough about sex education and sexual morality,so teen-agers may don't pay attention to pregnancy. I think Japanese schools should teach them more.
・It is very serious problem because abortion is big damage for wemen's body. This problem is not only for wemen but also for men. Both should learn this problem deeper in school. Moreover, parents should teach sex-education to their children more.
・I think it's sad that the state of sex education is so poor in Japan. Perhaps many young people get their sex education from the ubiquitous pornography in this country. I think young people should be taught more about sex by their parents and teachers, and they should know about birth control in detail from junior high school age.
・I think we have to do birth control.

⑥Have any of your acquaintances ever had an abortion?
⑦This is a question for people who answered "Yes" in the 6th question. Please tell me the situation at that time.

Only 2 people answered "yes".　

⑧This is the last question. Have you ever read articles concerning abortion? If so, please explain it.

4 people answered "yes".  One of the respondents said "I read articles about abortion at the time of the American presidential primary when republican candidates like Rick Santorum made outrageous statements about abortion. For example, he disagreed with the right of a woman to have an abortion EVEN cases of incest or rape."

Results of the Survey on Abortion

I would like to thank you all for taking your time to answer my survey. I made a slide show which summarizes the results of the survey. If you have any questions, please  leave a comment  in the commenting area on this blog.


Results of the Survey on Abortion

What kind of opinion on abortion do women who had an abortion have?

I found a web site which is useful when we want to know the feelings of the women who become pregnant against their will or had an abortion.
A woman who became pregnant  is at aloss whether to have an abortion or not. She thinks that her action will influence not only her life but also her boyfriend's life.


"Adoption? Abortion? Or keep the baby?." Standupgirl. StandUpGirl, n.d. Web. 19 Jul 2012. <http://www.standupgirl.com/>.

Aftereffects of abortion

After having an abortion, 10% of the women suffer from aftereffects of it. There are slight aftereffects and serious aftereffects. The slight aftereffects are, for example, bleeding, fever, lower back pain, digestive, and nausea. The serious aftereffects are  , for example, intense bleeding, convulsions, and disease of the uterus. From 3 to 5% of these women become sterility because of the clumsiness in the operation.
Abortion has  effects on not only a woman's body but also their mind. Some of them feel guilty or have less faith in men.

"Abortion Complications." AfterAbortion.org. 23 Nov 1999, n.d. Web. 19 Jul 2012. <http://afterabortion.org/1999/abortion-complications/>.

A country which has low abortion rate

There are some countries which has low abortion rate . One of these country is Ireland. Ireland is a Catholic country. In Catholic countries, abortion is considered to be bad thing. Compared with other Catholic countries, abortion regulation in Ireland is extremely strict. Even if a woman become pregnant because of rape and have an abortion, she regarded as a murderer. Abortion is permitted only when a pregnant woman will die if she give birth to  her baby. Such abortion regulations are too severe on women in Ireland. Several years ago, a teenage girl who became pregnant because of rape committed suicide. Although many people in Ireland don't support this abortion regulation, the law of Ireland isn't changed. The following link is an article concerning abortion in Ireland and a demonstration there.

 "Why can’t a woman get a life-saving abortion in Ireland?." abortion in ireland. abortioninireland.org, 6 Feb 2012. Web. 19 Jul 2012. <http://www.abortioninireland.org/>.

The costs of an abortion

The cost of a first trimester abortion is about $350 to $900 for an in-clinic procedure, and between $350 to $650 for a medication abortion, which has to be done within 9 weeks. Abortions in hospitals cost even more. Beyond 13 weeks, it becomes extremely difficult to find a provider willing to perform a second trimester abortion. Plus, it becomes even more expensive than a first trimester abortion.

Lowen , Linda. "How Much Does an Abortion Cost?." About.com Women. New York Times Company, 04Oc. Web. 16 Jul 2012. <http://womensissues.about.com/od/abortion/f/Abortion-Cost-How-Much-Does-An-Abortion-Cost.htm>.

My image of abortion

My image of abortion is something people do when they can't give birth to a baby. For example, a teenage girl gets pregnant and she and her boyfriend can't afford to raise the baby. Another example is if giving birth might effect the mother's health (or life). I think abortion is necessary, but this is because of the society we live in. We need money to raise a baby. Abortion is an issue that still needs a lot of discussion.

A pro-life group

I found a pro-life group called the "40 Days for Life". This group holds community-based campaigns that tells people about the consequences they may face if they have an abortion. The name of this group comes from the bible, where the period of 40 days comes out several times such as in Noah's Ark. This group has most of it's campaigns in America and through those campaigns, 23 abortion centers closed following these campaigns. 40 Days for Life has been up since 2007 and also has had campaigns in cities in Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Belize, Denmark, England, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Poland, Puerto Rico and Spain. Their next campaign will be from September 26 to November 4. 

"40 Days for Life." . 40 Days for Life, 2012. Web. 15 Jul 2012. <http://www.40daysforlife.com/>.

The number of abortions in Japan

In 2005,there were about 290,000 abortions in Japan. This number is decreasing year by year, but is still a high number. This number is 21.4% of all the pregnancies in the country.  This percentage is also going down yearly, but only by a little. I think the number of abortions per year is decreasing because the number of people getting pregnant is decreasing. Therefore the number of the people having abortions is decreasing along with it. The reason why the number of pregnancies is decreasing is most likely because of the change in the society. Unlike in the past, woman have more freedom and have more opportunities to work like men do. Therefore, marriage and having a household isn't the only thing for woman anymore.


Johnston, Robert. "Historical abortion statistics, Japan." johnstonsarchive. Robert Johnston, 21 N. Web. 10 Jul 2012. <http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/ab-japan.html>

Comparing 2 countries with different laws on abortion

I would like to compare the laws in the United States of America and the country I talked about in the last blog entry, Afghanistan. In the US, it is legal to have an abortion, but individual states can make state-by-state laws on abortion. Therefore, some states have regulations that even have penalties. For example, in Louisiana it is illegal to have an abortion, except in the case in which the mother's health would be in danger. If you break that law, you would go into prison for up to 10 years and a fine of a maximum of $100,000. Comparing these 2 countries, Afghanistan is strict with this issue, but allows it in a specific case, but the United States has an overall law of it being legal to have abortions except in some states. I think this is because of differences between religious beliefs. In the Islam, their beliefs are based on the Old Testament, which has a strict teaching (ten commandments). Compared to that, America is more free in religion, so it doesn't restrict such issues as much.


"Find Law." Louisiana abortion laws. Thomson Reuters business, 2012. Web. 8 Jul 2012. <http://law.findlaw.com/state-laws/abortion/louisiana/>.

A country where abortion is legal

It is legal in Afghanistan to have an abortion only when the pregnancy might endanger the mother's health. Other cases (such as rape or request by mother) is not acceptable. In the Islam beliefs, it is forbidden to kill a person, but it doesn't say any specific details about abortion. Because of this, there are various interpretations made by different countries. Therefore, I think that Afghanistan thought the lives of the mothers were important and to make them give birth with the sacrifice of their lives would make doctors a murderer. In result, they decided to make it legal to have abortions only if the process of giving birth might affect the mother's life.

"Summary of abortion laws around the world." Summary of abortion laws around the world. Pregnant pause, 2010. Web. 3 Jul 2012. <http://www.pregnantpause.org/lex/world02.jsp>. 

 Syed, I.. "Abortion In Islam." Abortion in islam. Islami Research Foundation Inc., 2000. Web. 3 Jul 2012. <http://www.islamawareness.net/FamilyPlanning/Abortion/abortion3.html>.

Yahoo! Groups

Here's another Yahoo! group. It is called Lavender Skies - You're Not Alone. This group talks about all sorts of controversial issues, which includes abortion. It has 2429 members (on June 22, 2012) and was September 3, 2002. The most recent post about abortion was from a girl who had an abortion and was feeling guilty about it.

another Yahoo Group

Another Yahoo Group I found is "Life_Controversies" (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Life_Controversies/?yguid=531874256).
The purpose of this group is to have a discussion on abortion and other cntroversial issues.

Some members are for abortion, and others are against the abortion.

I can categorize the content of their recent discussion as follows:
・the reason why some members are for or against abortion
・information on some occurrences concerning abortion
・opinion on some issues other than abortion

Yahoo! Group

Here's a discussion group from Yahoo! Group called Abortion is a Crime (Pro-Life). This group is a pro-life group debates about abortion. Recently, this group usually posts news articles about abortion. It has 188 members (on June 6, 2012) and was founded on June 24, 2005. Since this group is pro-life, the articles in the posts are pro-life articles as well. The group owner, Steven Ertelt posts most of the posts, but frequently posts new ones, so the group is quite active. This group might be useful to find news articles/stories about abortion.

Yahoo Group

I found a Yahoo Group "abortionstopsbeatinghearts"(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/abortionstopsbeatinghearts/)
The purpose of this group is to exchange our opinion on abortion. The members of this group are people who are against abortion.
The most recent messages of this group are the following.

 Report Shows Abortion Rate Has Dropped 39% Since 1990
New Video: Planned Parenthood OKs Sex-Selection Abortion Again
New Poll: HHS Mandate Hurts Obama With Women, Catholics

another word cloud

In this tag cloud, the words anti-abortion, postcard, Winnipeg, and caravan are conspicuous.

I made this tag cloud by using an article on an activity by the anti-abortion activists. According to the article, an anti-abortion group “The Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform” did a door-to-door visiting with graphic postcards to illustrate their point.

A member of the group said "Our point is … let the pre-born children in, because abortion is Canada's greatest human-rights violation."

"Anti-abortion activists go door-to-door in Winnipeg." CBCNEWS. N.p., June,14,2012. Web. 14 Jun 2012. <http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2012/06/13/mb-anti-abortion-protest-winnipeg.html>.

word cloud

In this tag cloud, some words including abortion, forced, illegal, minister, Morocco, and rape are noticeable. I made this tag cloud by using an article on a political movement in Morocco. In Morocco, abortion has been regarded as a taboo. However, because of this idea, many women who become pregnant against their will, have an abortion illegally. When they have an abortion illegally, they can’t have a safe operation, so some Moroccan politicians are insisting that they should legalize the abortion and protect women’s health.

 "Moroccan activists push to end abortion ban." The raw story. N.p., 2012. Web. 14 Jun 2012. <http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/04/moroccan-activists-push-to-end-abortion-ban/>.

The first practice of abortion

The first recorded practiced of abortion was in B.C. 1550 in Egypt. This was recorded in an ancient  medical text called the Ebers Papyrus. In the Ebers Papyrus, it suggests the use of a plant-fiber tampon coated with a compound that included honey and crushed dates when having an abortion. It also mentions a herbal abortifacient called pennyroyal, which is sometimes used in abortions. Yet this pennyroyal is toxic and is not a safe way to induct an abortion.

Head, T.. "When Did Abortion Begin?." Civilliberty.about.com. About.com, 2012. Web. 13 Jun 2012. <http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/f/When-Did-Abortion-Begin.htm>.

Another word cloud

Here's another word cloud. Try looking at it first without looking at the analysis below nor the site and guess what the sites about.

In this word cloud, the words "Abortion", "Procedure", "Medical", "Clinic", "Pregnancy", "Dilators", "Appointment", "Options" come out in big words. As I said in the last blog entry, the bigger the word in a word cloud, the more frequently that word comes up in the original text. So, this site is about abortion and it includes information about medical precedures/options and clinics. You can also find words like "Doctor" and "Risks", which point out that this site is talking from a medical point of view and is explaining about the options when you get pregnant, the procedures of abortion and risks from surgical methods. Therefore, this is a site that provides information about abortion, which may be considered as "for" abortion.


. "Types of Abortion Procedures." Fwhc services. Feminist Women, 2011. Web. 13 Jun 2012. <http://www.fwhc.org/abortion/ab-procedures.htm>.

A word cloud

I'm sure everyone knows what a word cloud is, so I won't be explaining what it is. This is a word cloud I made using a site called Tagxedo.com.

It is from the text from a site(citation at end of entry) written about Catholic thoughts. As you can see, the words "Abortion","Murder","Life", "Church", "Law", "Child" come up as big words. This shows that this site uses these words frequently. So from this, in Catholic beliefs, abortion is considered an act of murder and to kill a child in the womb is sinful. It is said in the old testament that a child in the womb has a soul and to kill one with a soul is sinful. The word "Law" refers to the ten comandments and you can find words in the cloud such as adultery, murder, and didache that are forbidden in the ten commandments. Looking from the word cloud above and looking at facts from the bible, your can tell that this (catholic) site is "against" abortion.

 Brom, R.. "Catholic Answers: Abortion." Catholic answers. Catholic.com, 2004. Web. 13 Jun 2012. <http://www.catholic.com/tracts/abortion>.

Answers to my questions

I will answer some of the questions I came up with last week.
First of all, I researched which country has the highest abortion rate. According to my research, Russia has the highest abortion rate in the world. The country which has the second highest abortion rate is Sweden. The abortion rate of Russia is higher tha that of Sweden by far. 17.7 of 1,000 people have an abortion in Sweden, while 40.3 of 1,000 people do so.
Why so many Russian people have an abortion? This is because many of them wouldn't take contraceptive. So many young women become pregnant against their wishes.
In contrast, Morocco has low avortion rate. In Morocco , abortion is regarded as a toboo. If a woman have an abortion, she will be arrested. Even if she became pregnant because of the rape, she is blamed.
There are some trials concerning abortion in Japan. Generally, these quarrels are caused by a woman who had abortion and a man who is her onetime boyfriend. In the trial, they often argue about the man should pay compensation.
Abortion sometimes do harm to women's body. Once a woman have an abortion, she tends to become sterility.

There are various ideas on abortion. These ideas often infruenced by religions. Christians have the most strict rule on abortion. In contrast , Buddihists tolerant of it.
Most Japanese people don't have any religion. I think this is one of the reasons Japan has a high abortion rate.

questions about abortion

1.    How many people in Japan are for the abortion?

2.    How many people in Japan are against the abortion?

3.    Which country in the world has the highest abortion rate?

4.    Why does the country have high abortion rate?

5.    Which country in the world has the lowest abortion rate?

6.    Why does the country have low abortion rate?

7.    Are there any trialｓ concerning abortion?

8.    What is the end of it?

9.    Are there any aftereffects of abortion?

10.  What kind of aftereffect is it?

11.  What kind of opinion on abortion do doctors have?

12.  What kind of opinion on abortion do nurses have?

13.  What kind of opinion on abortion do women who had an abortion have?

14.  Is abortion bad for women’s health?

  15.What kind of history does abortion have?

Two websites which I found

The first website I found is guttmacher.org.  In this website, we can get a lot of information about abortion facts in America. For example, we can know the number of abortion per year and the reason some people had an abotion.What is more, we can find reports and video about abortion.

. Abortion: US specific. N.p., 2008. Web. 31 May 2012. <http://www.guttmacher.org/sections/abortion.php?scope=U.S. specific>.

Another website is Medline Plus. This website was made for people who want to consult with a doctor about abortion. There are some important topics in this website. I think a topic about teenagers' abortion is worth reading.

National Institutes of Health, . "Abortion." Medline plus. u.s. national library of medicine, 2011. Web. 31 May 2012.

Websites related to abortion

The first website I would like to introduce is plannedparenthood.org. On this site,in the abortion section, it talks about the ways of abortion and has other facts that people thinking of having an abortion might be curious about. There is also a chat system where you can ask questions that might be more precise. This website is .org site, which makes it more trustworthy.

"Abortion." Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc., 2011. Web. 31 May 2012. <http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/abortion-4260.asp>

The second website I would like to introduce is an article from about.com. It's titled "Abortion: Bad Because It Means Sex Without Consequences". It talks about how abortion is killing the baby and it's not acceptable, but the title has a too prejudice to it and it may be taken a wrong way by woman who have abortions due to rape, etc.

Cline, Austin. "Abortion: Bad Because It Means Sex Without Consequences." about.com. The New York Times Company, 2006. Web. 31 May 2012. <http://atheism.about.com/b/2006/03/27/abortion-bad-because-it-means-sex-without-consequences.htm>

List of questions about abortion part 1

1. When was abortion first practice?
2. Name a country where abortion is legal.
3. Why do you think it is legal in that country?
4. Compare 2 countries with different laws about abortion.
5. How many abortions cases are there in Japan per year?
6. Is that number increasing or decreasing?
7. Why do you think so?
8. Are there any groups that are against abortion?
9. Are there any groups that support abortion?
10. What kind of people do you think would have an abortion?
11. What is your image of abortion?
12. Are there any books/movies that focuses on abortion?
13. Are there famous stories about abortion that isn't published ?
14. How much does it cost to have an abortion?
15. Are there any differences depending on the case?

Perspectives by different people

This story is a fictional point of view which was made up from non-fictional facts.

My name is Hitomi Suzuki. Since I got married, I have wanted to have a baby. However, I can't have a baby. This is because I have a serious illness.  " If you try to give birth to a baby, both you and your baby's life will be in danger." A doctor said to us.
If I were stronger, I would have a baby.
In my opinion, once you become pregnant, you should give birth to the baby.
There are mamy people who can't have a baby in spite of their wish to have a baby.
So I'm against abortion.

Perspective by diffenrent people

This story is a fictional point of view whici was made up from non-fictional facts.

I'm　pregnant, and I decided to have an abortion. Although it is very sad thing to have an abortio and  I had wanted to have my baby for a long time, abortion is the best way for me.
A few days ago, I had a medical examination. The doctor said "Your baby has a serious  handicap ." I was shocked to know that. After I reached my home, I talked with my husband about what I was taught at the hospital. I consulted with him about what we should do. As a result of our meeting, we decided to have an abortion.
We decided to have an abortion for following reasons.
First, a handicapped person likely to suffer discrimination. There are many people who lack understanding of handicapped people. These people made my children unhappy.
Second, a hadicapped person can't live for himself. As long as we live, we can take care of him. However, after we died, there will not be someone who take care of him.
Finally, it will take a lot of money to bring up a handicapped child, because we should  take him to the hospital frequently . Sad to say, we don't have enough money.
I think if we can't make our child happy, we don't have a child.

Perspectives by different people

This story is a fictional point of view which was made up from non-fictional facts.

Hello, my name is Ken Nakamura and I run a small obstetrics and gynecology hospital in Tokyo. I have a wife and 3 children to feed. Things were going well until one day a few years ago, a big hospital was built in the area near my hospital. Now everyone goes to the big hospital because they have brand new machines and a lot of doctors and nurses. Due to this, my income has decreased and my wife doesn’t seem quite happy about this. Before the new hospital was built, I wasn’t an outgoing doctor when it came to abortion. But after all of this, I need those patients to make a living. It wasn’t an easy decision and it hurts every time I have to do abortion surgeries.

Perspectives by different people

This story is a fictional point of view which was made up from non-fictional facts.

Nihao, my name is Lee Wang and I live in a small farming village in China. The other day, the wife of one of our neighbors got pregnant. They were having problem because she was having a hard time getting pregnant, but at last they got a beloved child to be born soon. They will be going to a hospital in a big city soon to check the gender of the baby. Here in China, the government decided to have a “one child policy” to prevent overpopulation. Because of that, we farmers need that one child to be a boy, in order to inherit the farm. So we check the gender of the baby and if it’s a girl, we abort the baby. Even though everyone in our village does this, I personally don’t like this idea. I feel sorry for the baby and babies should have their rights to live just as we do. I hope that when I give birth to a baby, this habit in our village will not exist.

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