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Lauren McKay
Mr. Hackney
Rhetoric 101
October 8, 2014
Abortion: What Needs to Change
One of the most controversial issues of all time is abortion. All around the world,
abortion is perceived differently. Some countries, such as the United States, allow the mothers to
decide whether or not they can have an one. However, in other countries, abortion is in no way
an option to a woman even in cases of rape or incest. Surgical abortions have always been the
most common, but now there is a new way of self-aborting called medical abortions.These
induce miscarriages and are a more convenient option for women who cannot legally have one.
In the August 2014 edition of The New York Times, Emily Bazeleon states in the article, The
Dawn of the Post-Clinic Abortion that women all over the world deserve the right to have a safe
way of terminating their pregnancy. She wants to achieve this by spreading the word about
medical abortions and supplying women in need with the necessary pills. By relying mostly on
revealing statistics and emotional personal stories, Bazeleon successfully achieves her purpose of
informing the reader about the advantages of medical abortions and why women need to be able
to make the choice, not the government.
Statistics, such as the effectiveness of medical abortions, prove that medical abortions are
a safe and better alternative to women who want to self-abort, especially those who are unable to.
Medical abortions are accomplished by the ingestion of two pills called Misoprostol and
Mifepristone (Bazeleon 6). These pills, when taken together, are 95-98% effective for inducing a
miscarriage (Bazeleon 5). The pills are the best alternative for women living in these restricted
countries because they are easily concealed and transported in and out of places. The company
the article focuses on primarily, Women on Web, states that their drug supplier, Kale Impex,
supplies 1500 drug compounds and has an annual revenue of $4.5 million (Bazeleon 7). The
scale of the operation is immense and reaches out to help numerous countries all over the globe.
This form of self-aborting has become much more popular in recent years due to the convenience
of the treatment and also the added safety benefits.
Surgical abortions have always been the most common form of terminating a pregnancy.
However, with modern medicine progressing at a rapid rate, medical abortions have become
much more popular. The greatest benefit to this form of abortion is that it reduces fatality rates
drastically. In 2008, the World Health Organization estimated that 21.6 million unsafe surgical
abortions took place world wide, leading to 47,000 deaths (Bazleon 4). The death rate for women
who terminate their pregnancies through medical abortions is only 0.5 out of 100,000 (Bazeleon
12). The safety of the woman involved in these procedures has increased drastically, as proven
by the reduction in deaths of women. In fact, medical abortions now account for approximately a
third of all abortions (Bazeleon 10). This new method is saving the lives of women worldwide
because of the effectiveness of the product, convenience of shipping, and safety of the procedure.
Not only does the author give a substantial amount of statistics, but she also includes an adequate
amount of personal stories and encounters the Women on Web have had.
Personal stories, such as the remarkable 22-year old woman from Brazil who had to reach
out to Women on Web for help, reveal to the reader why women should have the option to abort
their pregnancies. On July 2nd of this year, the Women on Web were contacted by a 22-year old
woman from Brazil (Brazeleon 4). She wrote to the company in desperation for the pills needed

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to successfully induce a miscarriage, the woman had been raising her four siblings and lacked the
funds to support another child (Brazeleon 4). This is important because it is an example of the
situation some women face in non abortion countries, they need help financially and can not
afford another child. Her mother had passed away from the injuries sustained during a surgical
abortion, and the man who got her pregnant was no longer there for support (Brazeleon 6).
Basically, the situation the young woman was put in was not by choice and her only source of
relief was through the assistance of the Women on Web. After a week and a half of shipping, the
pills arrived and the woman was able to safely and successfully terminate her pregnancy
(Brazeleon 17). The Women on Web have made it a point to comply with almost every situation
worldwide in order to allow women the choice of what to do with their pregnancies.
Abortion has always been one of the most controversial topics. There are countries in the
world that completely prohibit any and all forms of abortion. The women in these countries have
no alternatives besides contacting the Women on Web for help. The medical abortions conducted
through this company have saved the lives of thousands of women and uphold idea that all
women have a choice. No matter what part of the world, big or small, no woman should be
allowed to undergo an unwanted pregnancy and be subjected to unsafe surgical abortions.