**Abortion and Family Planning**

**Abortion and Family Planning**

#### Affonso Renato Meira Affonso Renato Meira Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71772

#### **Abstract**

Abortion, a procedure by which the dead fetus is removed from the maternal organism and considered as a cultural trait, is found in all cultures of developed societies, as well as in the populations of aboriginal peoples. Moreover, it has long been a concern that has drawn social attention. It was only after in 1798, that the attention was drawn to the relationship between population and the production of goods. This concern has been accentuated by the birth rate and the longevity of human being. Abortion has undoubtedly interfered with population growth, the restriction of abortion advocated for human rights, or religious or economics reasons or by others. Family planning is a set of actions that help men and women plan for the arrival of their children, as well as prevent unwanted pregnancies. It is a project for couples to have offspring per their intentions and also the increase in world population that is worrying everyone has a decrease. For this, the Control of Birth is the method proposed to contain pregnancy. Abortion should only be recommended when a woman cannot or does not wish to give birth to a child or when the method used to control pregnancy has failed.

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.71772

**Keywords:** family planning, birth control, artificial fertility, abortion, legislation, religion

#### **1. Introduction**

Culture for Edward Tylor "is all that complex that includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, customs as well as all the skills acquired by man as a member of a society"[1] "The word culture, therefore, within an approach to the social sciences, includes everything that human beings have invented, built, adapted, or developed to survive and make life at least a satisfying and enjoyable experience, not only materially but also spiritually" [1].

Culture is an indivisible system that determines social behavior through traits, concepts, and patterns. Although it is an abstract process, culture sums up all the processes of reality that are

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© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons

learned in a slow but effective way. Being a learning process through communication between people, culture is a process that precedes and succeeds the components of a society. Thus, it is considered a historical phenomenon, but in another view, the cultural aspects being abstract are kept within the people and, in this sense, can be considered a psychological phenomenon.

decrease. For this, the Control of Birth is the method proposed to contain pregnancy. Abortion should only be recommended when a woman cannot or does not wish to give birth to a child

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http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71772

Countries through legislation established by the government punish or liberate abortion. At the same time, the doctrine of various religions considers it to be a totally unwanted behavior. A cultural trait that turned into a medical fact is penalized by jurists and priests. Considered

As a cultural trait, abortion on many occasions is not obeyed and not even penalized by women or society. This is because there are many reasons for women seeking abortion

Among these reasons is rape, that is, the sexual act by violence and without the permission of the woman, which in almost all the countries of the Western world and countless of the Eastern world is considered a reason for the punishment of the man, as well as for allowing the woman to resort to abortion in order not to generate the fetus. In addition to rape, other

Among the biological reasons are life-threatening or health-related injuries, such as the most relevant ones. The current knowledge of medicine is so developed that if abortion is used to save a woman's life, it is almost abandoned. The emergence of diseases produced by viruses leading to the birth of fetuses with abnormalities, such as anencephaly, that will produce harmful effects on the life of the newborn is also considered. In some countries, incest is remembered [2].

On the other hand, many social reasons are forgotten by many societies that consider, with greater weight, the position of several churches, among them more narrowly Catholic.

Among these social reasons, it is possible to enumerate at once the desire of the woman not wanting the birth of a child, which can occur through several factors: the lack of knowledge of the father; the disappearance of the father; the father's attitude in not recognizing the child; the lack of acknowledgment of childbirth by the woman's family, even causing expulsion from her home; the financial impossibility of the family to support another child; the impossibility of giving pause to a livelihood or future improvement activity; and finally the failure

Birth control has always been sought in ancient civilizations for more than 4000 years. In Egypt, the Berlin papyrus refers to fumigation that prevented pregnancy and the Ebers papyrus indicates procedures that prevented a woman from becoming pregnant for 2–3 years. The Old Testament refers to the "coitus interruptus" method adopted in Europe in the nineteenth century and to this day adopted by poorer and less enlightened layers throughout the world. The abandonment of unwanted children was practiced among the Greeks as well as among the Romans. Chinese were organized on farms for the reception of children who remained

or when the method used to control pregnancy has failed.

a medical act of which presents very little risk to the woman.

**3. Generalities**

whether biological or social.

reasons are considered for abortion.

in the process of birth control.

until they were sacrificed [3].

The process of learning culture is a slow, continuous, unconscious process that begins at birth and continues throughout life. The culture of a society leads people to think, feel, and act per cultural standards. Cultural pattern is the orientation provided by the complexities and cultural traits that are valued in different ways. It is also in Piovesan's words the paths followed by the customs, ideas, beliefs, and attitudes of a population group. It is possible to consider that in all cultures, therefore in all societies, there is a standard in relation to health, which is composed of concepts grouped in medical knowledge that are characterized by traits, characterizing the behavior of society, at various levels in relation to health. Concepts are derived from medicine based on scientific learning or on empirical learning based on analogical knowledge.

Cultural trait is the least definable element (Kroeber) or identifiable (Herskovits) of culture [1]. Abortion should be considered a component of the standard of health of all cultures.
