Sociology 8: Social Welfare and Media Analysis on Abortion in Canada

This sociology report provides a comprehensive analysis of abortion in Canada, examining its legal status, societal perceptions, and media representation. The report begins with an academic literature review, exploring research on abortion practices, sex-selective abortion, and the role of contraceptives. It then summarizes media coverage of abortion, including the impact of social media and the legal vacuum created by the Supreme Court's decision in 1988. The report compares and contrasts the Canadian and American approaches to the abortion debate, highlighting differences in media engagement and societal attitudes. It also discusses the factors contributing to abortion, such as financial problems and societal preferences. The study concludes by emphasizing the medical necessity of abortion and the need for safe and secure procedures. The report utilizes various sources to provide an unbiased overview of the abortion issue in Canada.

SOCIAL WELFARE MEDIA ANALYSIS: CANADA
MARCH 16, 2020

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
Section A: Academic Literature Review............................................................................2
Section B: Media Summary.................................................................................................5
Section C: Compare/Contrast.............................................................................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................7
References.............................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
Canada is considered to be one of the most advanced countries of the west. It has been
observed that though the country is highly developed still it is not devoid of social issues. It
can be observed that some issues are still a point of concern for all Canadians. One of the
most discussed issues in the social life of Canada is the “Abortion laws of Canada”. It has
been observed that there were different types of injunctions as well as laws regarding the
abortion laws and rules in Canada and the Canadian Society. There are several types of health
issues that are dealt with the proper type of care and approach, medical care and treatment.
But there are certain types of health issues that are dealt with controversy, conflict, and
condemnation (Obar 2014). Abortion can be considered to be such a type of social issue.
There have been different types of researchers and study that has accounted for the growth
and development of different types of abortion instances as well as also the causes of sex-
selective abortion practices in Canada. It has also been observed that the Federal Legislation
in Canada has made different types of allowable options that can be used by the Provincial as
well as the State Legislatures for better growth and developmental purpose.
Section A: Academic Literature Review
Researchers in the field of medical treatment and other allied phenomenon has proved
the fact that even if the girls, as well as the women, are seen to take an extreme amount of
precaution with the help of different types of contraceptives but still there may be situations
where there may be a need to go for the process of abortion or the termination of an unwanted
pregnancy. In some decades ago it was observed that only a few methods were available for
abortion or the termination of pregnancy. But with the advancement of better technology, we
can see that now at present better techniques are made available for the termination of
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unwanted pregnancy. Unsafe abortions can lead to different types of costs that may be quite
expensive for the young girls, their parents, other households as well as it may also have an
impact on the entire society as a whole (Halfmann 2019). The legal status of abortion is a
very sensitive affair, as a result, it has been observed that several types of lawyers, as well as
the advocates, are busy in framing out new laws and regulations for the acceptability as well
as the accessibility of this concerned topic. It has been observed that anti-abortion groups
were seen to work mainly on the domain of bans on constitutional abortion as well as they
were also observed to deal with restrictive laws and policies regarding this restrictive domain
(Norman 2012). The acceptability of the abortion primarily identifies the fact that a girl may
have the right to go for an abortion during the early stages of her pregnancy if she desires so
and the government is much obliged to her in this concerned domain. In the year 2016, it was
observed that among the Canadian born mothers the male-female ratio was 1.05. This was a
population-based research work that was conducted by the Canadian Medical Association.
Different types of prejudices and reflections could have been guided by the concerned survey.
It was also observed that the concept that the male son was quite indispensable in carrying
forward the name of the family was also instrumental in developing the consensus for the
majority of the cases of abortions. There is also a strong belief among Canadian society that
the birth of a daughter may lead to the development of shame and ignominy for the concerned
society and as a result, there are the majority of actionable cases of abortion (Sauratte 2013).
A more recent type of research that was carried out in the year 2018, had developed the idea
that the increasing number of female abortions can be lessened by enhancing a greater type of
awareness in the Canadian community.
However, it was observed that a better type of understanding of the different types of
activities that lead to such type of thought and action can be used to spread a better awareness
in the concerned society. By the generation of a better type of awareness campaign in
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Canada, there can be made substantial improvements in the fields of sex-selective abortions.
It has been observed that this is not only an issue in Canada but it has been an issue with a
worldwide existence. There are different types of reasons that may be accountable for
abortion as well as the different types of abortive practices. Some of the reasons may be
stated as financial problems, incompatibility with their sexual partners, maternal health
concerns, malformation, different types of genetic disorders, etc. Adoptions are a type of
medical necessity and medically important procedures. Understanding the importance of
abortion, it was observed that in the year 1995 the Federal Health Minister did confirm the
fact that abortion is a very important medical procedure and it must be incorporated into the
Canada Health Act and this should be followed by all the different types of Provincial and
territorial Health Insurance Plans. It has been observed that medical types of abortions can be
taken into account and it can be accounted for 50% of the different types of eligible women
and can be made accountable for 56 days’ gestation period. It has also been observed that the
majority of the abortion cases that can be carried out by such a process can be less harmful to
the patients, they will be non-invasive, private and they will also not include any type of
special type of equipment. It has been proved that 90% of the cases that are handled within 49
days of the gestation period can be handled very smoothly and efficiently without having any
type of problems and criticality to the concerned patients. Studies and researches have proved
the fact that there are no laws that can be applied for the use of medication for termination but
it can be observed that illegal use of pharmaceuticals can be made to control pregnancy as
well as to make use of the possible mechanism of abortion (Sethna & Doull 2013). It should
also be taken into account that the actual number of the medical abortions are unknown in
Canada because these type of incidents are often not recorded but the Canadian Abortion
Survey can track its different types of activities in the said domain. It has also been observed
in the different types of surveys and researches that about 65% of the women who had
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vaginal intercourse and who were not ready to conceive made use of the different types of
contraceptives that were available in the said market. Survey results have indicated that
contraceptives were used by about 44% of the patients, condoms were used by about 54% of
the patients and the method of withdrawal was used by 12% of the respondents.
Section B: Media Summary
A study involving 157 representatives from 63 different types of advocacy
organizations were seen to get involved in how social media can have an impact on the said
topic. It was observed that most of the impetration, as well as the interactive phenomenon, are
being articulated through social media like Twitter and Facebook. A bilingual type of survey
was carried out from June 2013 to November 2013, in the domain of Canadian abortion
services (Kirkey, 2020). It was observed that the total number of respondents that took part in
this survey was about 94. It was observed that about 31% of the Canadian Women
experienced this problem of abortion in their life span. The abortion services of both rural as
well as urban facilities were taken into consideration. It was also observed that the Federal
Legislature involved a large number of supporting documentation that allowed space for the
Provincial and the Territorial Health systems to provide abortion systems in Canada (Long &
Foot, 2020). It has been observed that about 90.4% of Canadian abortions have been reported
to have taken place in the Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2012. In the year 1988,
it was observed that the Supreme Court of Canada, had made a landmark decision to throw
out its Abortion Law of 1969, based on the fact that it was unconstitutional. This resulted in
the creation of a very big legal vacuum and still today no abortion law exists in Canada. The
media has observed the fact that abortion has been resulted to be paid by the funded activity
with the taxpayer in dollars so that it can move through every type of the Provincial system in
Canada. According to the Canadian Health Act, it is stated that it does not ensure the abortion
costs to be insured. Media reports state that about 1,00,000 surgical operations are conducted
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in Canada annually. Since, the time from 1969, that abortion became legalized it was
observed to kill about 4 lakh babies in Canada (Paynter, 2019). According to the different
types of reports, the rates of the unintended abortion practices are unknown in Canada
whereas in the US 95% of such types of cases which involved the abortion of pregnancies
were unintended.
Section C: Compare/Contrast
There are a great difference in respect to the comparison between the different types
of the social groups that have an impact on the social media. The greatest type of impacts are
observed between the American as well as the Canadian groups. It has been observed that
whereas the Americans easily take the help of twitter, Instagram, Facebook for making a
wave in the field of social responsibility but still there is a lot of difference in respect to the
activity of the Canadians whose activities are generally more guarded and covered off. It has
been observed that in an American Society the responses are quite vigorous with the help of
digital media involving Facebook and Twitter (Sethna & Doull 2013). But in the case of a
Canadian Society is it more conservative with the use of a systematic and logical approach
for the expression of their views using a logical media. It has been observed that in today
about 96% of cases were considered in which abortion is considered to be a backup case for
childbirth. Researches have observed that about half of the women that go for unplanned
pregnancy take the resort to abortion (Kaposy 2010). Different types of emotional and
traditional factors are also responsible for cases of abortion. In most part of the third world
countries, it can be seen that people do think that the birth of a boy can lead to a brighter
family name and on the contrary the birth of a girl can allow for a bad name in society. This
type of psychological sentiments can also form a very important parameter in Canada for
adopting abortion facilities. It has also been observed that the practice of abortion in the US is
also considerably high.
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Conclusion
The study deals with the status of abortion in Canada and how society and the media
react with it. In this study different types of responses of the respondents were taken so that
the survey was unbiased. Different types of studies have revealed the fact that abortion is a
medical necessity and sometimes the procedures that are generally adopted for the abortion
techniques may not be safe and secure for the concerned patients of the same domain (Latt
2019). From the perspective of Canada, it has been observed that several types of surveys and
researches have clearly shown that there are different types of factors that are responsible for
such cases some of them are financial problems, non-compatibility with their partners,
malformation and different types of genetic issues. It has also been observed that one-third of
the women who go for such type of practices have a prior experience in this concerned field.
Researchers have also found out that in a survey of 1127 women who have opted for an
abortion in an Ontario hospital, about 23.1% was seeking a second abortion and 3.7% was
seeking for a third or a subsequent abortion. In such type of study, a clear history of sexual
abuse and nonconformity with their partners were observed (Fuentes 2019). It has also been a
noted fact that some physicians do believe the fact that emergency contraceptives are also a
type of abortifacient and therefore most of them do decline to prescribe them to their patients.
The different types of studies and researches have also lead to the fact that if a proper type of
awareness campaign is organized then a greater part of the society will be benefited from this
type of activity.
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References
Fuentes, L. (2019). Distance Traveled to Obtain Clinical Abortion Care in the United States
and Reasons for Clinic Choice. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2018.7496.
Halfmann, D. (2019). Political Institutions and the Comparative Medicalization of
Abortion.First Published April 25, 2019 Research Article.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146519843935.
Kaposy, C (2010). Improving abortion access in Canada. Health Care Anal. 2010;18(1):17–
34. Epub 2008 Sep 27.
Kirkey, S. (2020). As abortion debate becomes increasingly polarized, poll shows the views
of many Canadians are more complicated. Retrieved 18 March 2020, from
https://nationalpost.com/news/as-abortion-debate-becomes-increasingly-
polarized-poll-shows-the-views-of-many-canadians-are-more-complicated
Latt, S. M. (2019). Abortion laws reform may reduce maternal mortality: an ecological study
in 162 countries. BMC Women's Health volume 19, Article number: 1 (2019).
Long, L., & Foot, R. (2020). Abortion in Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18
March 2020, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/abortion
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Norman, W, V. (2012). Induced abortion in Canada 1974–2005: trends over the first
generation with legal access. Contraception. 2012;85(2):185–91. Epub 2011 Aug 4.
Norman, V. W. (2019). Could implementation of mifepristone address Canada’s urban–rural
abortion access disparity: a mixed-methods implementation study protocol. BMJ
Open. 2019; 9(4): e028443. Published online 2019 Apr 20. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-
2018-028443.
Obar, A. J. (2014). Canadian Advocacy 2.0: An Analysis of Social Media Adoption and
Perceived Affordance by Advocacy Groups Looking to Advance Activism in Canada.
Canadian Journal of Communication, 39(2), 211-233 (2014).
Paynter, M. (2019). Abortion in Canada: The election debates, the law and the reality.
Retrieved 18 March 2020, from https://www.dal.ca/news/2019/10/04/abortion-in-
canada--the-election-debates--the-law-and-the-realit.html
Sauratte, P. (2013). Arguing Abortion: The New Anti-Abortion Discourse in Canada. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423913000176.
Sethna, C, & Doull, M. (2013). Spatial disparities and travel to freestanding abortion clinics
in Canada. Women's Stud Int Forum. 2013; 38:52–62
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