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The Controversial Use of the RU486 Abortion Pill and Technology
52718 The Social Life of TechnologyA2 Part 1: Controversy mapping case study preparation report
Title: The Controversial Use of the RU486 Abortion Pill and Technology
Synopsis:
A medicine known as RU-486, which prevents fertilized eggs from implanting in the uterus, is a viable option for women seeking early abortions since it is both medically beneficial and safe. 1980 marked the beginning of work on RU486, although clinical trials of the medicine did not begin until 1987 (Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, 2012). Because it is less expensive and has fewer unwanted consequences than competing technologies (Hanna, 1991), users in France consider it a beneficial technology. The abortion pill has not yet gained complete acceptance on a global scale; in fact, only a select number of countries, like France and China, make full use of the RU486 (Collins, 2022). Despite the fact that the vast majority of individuals in contemporary culture continue to hold the belief that abortion is immoral. When compared to the previous ways of aspiration, however, medical experts consider medical abortion to be one of the safest and most prevalent procedures. This has been the case for decades.
RU-486, much the same as the birth control methods, has been met with significant opposition from moralists who are concerned that it would reduce benefits of sexuality, importance of life, and basic human relationships to a mere game. These arguments often include remarks expressing worry about the health of women or the possibility of genocide via the use of contraceptives in undeveloped nations (King & Shields, 2019). However, studies that were analyzed by experts in the field have shown that RU-486 is a safer option for early abortions than suction methods. In addition to generating fewer adverse effects than suction abortions and being more cost-effective, RU-486 is safer than suction abortions.
Both supporters and detractors of RU486 have long maintained that the pill symbolizes desirable characteristics for women, such as the ability to self-administer the prescription, the avoidance of a surgical procedure, and the safeguarding of basic individual privacy. These are only a few of the favorable characteristics associated with the pill. Several Australian women have used the abortion medicine RU486 to terminate unwanted pregnancies in the previous 10 years. Because it is used so early in the pregnancy and “washes away” an embryo the size of a pea before it can implant or soon after, proponents of this procedure believe that it puts abortion closer to the category of contraception (Collins, 2022). In a medical abortion, the patient takes drugs recommended by their doctor in order to terminate the pregnancy. This is in contrast to a surgical abortion done in a clinic or hospital operating room. Despite the fact that mifepristone has been available for purchase in Australia since 2006, it is still only accessible to a small group of women in particular places.
Following its first release in France in the 1980s, mifepristone swiftly became the pharmaceutical of choice for medical abortions in many countries across the world. Because of its ubiquity, mifepristone has become the norm for medical abortions in many nations. Despite this, members of parliament in Australia negotiated an agreement that utterly disregarded women’s health concerns. In 1996, anti-abortion Senator Brian Harradine, who cast the decisive vote in the government, lobbied John Howard to adopt legislation limiting the use of mifepristone in Australia (Parliament of Australia, 2005). Mifepristone usage has been prohibited by law. Mifepristone was legally inaccessible to women in Australia for eleven years prior to the repeal of the Harradine Act in 2006 (Peterson, 2012). This restriction was only lifted when a coordinated national movement resulted in the repeal of the statute. However, this did not instantly result in a huge number of individuals having easy access to the medicine. Pharmaceutical companies denied the chance to develop or commercialize the medicine due to the controversy surrounding the event.
This case study’s goal is to track down the system of ideological, financial, and historical influences that have coalesced to slow the adoption of the abortion pill (RU-486) further into the global markets beyond France, thereby limiting its use, development, and regulation. This will be accomplished by looking at how these forces have interacted with one another over time.
Relevance:
It is possible to induce a miscarriage using medication, and this is how a medical abortion is performed (Rushton, 2020). It’s a huge improvement in abortion technology since it allows women to have them in safer, more convenient settings. Abortions that are not performed safely, particularly invasive abortions, put the life or health of the woman undergoing the operation in jeopardy. Estimates suggest that unsafe abortions performed in unsanitary circumstances by inexperienced individuals account for almost 13% of all maternal fatalities worldwide (King & Shields, 2019). Medical abortion, with or without a doctor’s assistance, is helping to reduce the number of deaths and diseases caused by hazardous, intrusive procedures gone wrong in regions of the globe where most abortions are still illegal. For example, a hysterectomy may be necessary if the patient develops sepsis or sustains a uterine perforation.
The use of medicine to end a pregnancy, often known as a medical abortion, usually includes the administration of more than one chemical. This method of terminating a pregnancy does not need any surgical treatment and may be performed in the comfort of one’s own home (Collins, 2022). People seeking abortions now have more alternatives than ever before, including taking pills rather of going through a clinic procedure. This is becoming a more common option. The abortion issue has moved in many parts of the world to include the use of abortion pills that may be taken at home to conduct an abortion. As more countries pass laws restricting or outright prohibiting surgical abortions, a growing number of women are opting for medication abortions, which include swallowing a pill prescribed by a medical expert. Currently, the only method to get these drugs is via personal visits to a medical institution such as a clinic or hospital; however, this may change shortly.
Sources:
For the research study, I chose to use primary sources from verifiable news sources and government data and information. Specifically, the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care and the Parliament of Australia data available in government websites were used to support the information relating to how RU486 entered the nation, its reception, and consequent information on its usage, banning, and other issues. I also chose to use leading news sources including the New Yorker and the Guardian, as well as The Conversation. These news sources are global, factual, and bias free on different matters. They present first hand interviews and statistics on usage of RU486. The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) was also used for a personal opinion piece on the opinion of doctors on the use of RU486.
Timeline:
Moment/Event in Evolution Explanation
Formal research project 1980-1987 Roussel-Uclaf begun formal research on the drug to advance the progress made since 1949.
Antiabortion protests in 1988-1990 Stopping of distribution of the drug due to social and political issues
Approval of mifegyne in Britain and Sweden 1991-1996 Political, religious and social issues forced RU-486 mass approval
Australia bans mifepristone use in abortions in 1996 Political, religious and social issues forced RU-486 ban in Australia
Hoechst AG buying of majority of shares in Roussel-Uclaf and end of manufacture and sale of Mifegyne 1997-1999 Mifepristone resumption in distribution and sales outside of the United States and France.
New Zealand and Australia lift bans on mifepristone 2005 Under special circumstances, Australia and New Zealand lifted the ban on RU-486
Approval for abortion in the United States 2000-2021 Mifepristone was approved as an abortion drug in the United States under licensed physicians.
Actor network diagram:
Relevance Social Actors Role in the Abortion and RU-486 Controversy
The Church (Catholic church) A religious stand on abortion informing public perception
Political and social events Political standstill on manufacturing and medical approval issues
Ownership and manufacturing problems Change of ownership and manufacturing requirements affecting availability of the RU-486
Bibliography:
Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. (2012, 30 August). Registration of medicines for the medical termination of early pregnancy. [https://www.tga.gov.au/registration-medicines-medical-termination-early-pregnancy]. Accessed 3 October 2022.
Collins, L. (2022, July 5). The Complicated Life of the Abortion Pill. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-medicine/emile-baulieu-the-complicated-life-of-the-abortion-pillKing, R., & Shields, M. (2019, May 4). RU486: The drug regional doctors can’t — and sometimes won’t — prescribe. ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-05/ru486-the-drug-country-gps-cant-and-sometimes-wont-prescribe/11077644Parliament of Australia. (2005, 28 November). RU486 for Australia? https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22library%2Fprspub%2FTI3I6%22
Peterson, K. (2012, September 11). Politics v women’s health: RU486 and the TGA saga. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/politics-v-womens-health-ru486-and-the-tga-saga-9472Rushton, G. (2020, July 14). Abortion drugs remain inaccessible, unsafe and unaffordable for many Australian women | Gina Rushton. the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2020/jul/15/abortion-drugs-remain-inaccessible-unsafe-and-unaffordable-for-many-australian-women
Political Economy in the Early 20th Century
Political Economy in the Early 20th Century
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Institution
Political Economy in the Early 20th Century
The early 20th century was a fundamental period towards the American’s political and economic development with regards to the up and downs felt in the nation regarding movement and settlement of people. It was during this era that there was immigration, immigration, the growth of ethnic enclaves as well as the rise of organized labor movements. All of these concerns were in one way or the other touching race, class gender, political economy or age, which are common threats to societal development. The nation had taken a direction on which capitalism was the order of the day developing inequality based on ethnicity and racism. During the early 1900’s, was when a large number of immigrants moved from European countries to the American society making it being referred to as the age of immigration. In this discussion, the political economy of the early 20th century is elaborated into an in-depth extent in consideration of the immigration, in-migration, growth of urban ethnic enclaves and the rise of organized labor movements.
During the age of immigration, America had open its borders leading to migration of more than thirty million immigrants from the neighboring countries, especially from the southern and northern European nations. It was among the most substantial well-known immigration in the history without restrictions where the immigrants were significantly assimilated and effectively started providing labor to the ancient community. The immigration issue was faced by political opposition leading to the government of the United States limiting the number to a hundred and fifty thousand immigrants per year (Holmes, 2015). It was argued that the immigrants were downgrading the nation’s economy as they came from impoverished European regions and lived in marginalized areas in the country.
At the early stage, the immigrant received low wages than the Latin Americans in the community as they learned the skills of producing labor in various sectors such as in the farming field. However, over the time in some areas, their income would be equalized to that of Latin America, but the case was different in other regions where the earnings gap would remain the same. After the assimilation in the United States of America, the immigrants insisted for equal pay as their fellow Latin colleagues leading to rising of organized labor movements. The United States Labor movement is an excellent example of the organizations established to curb poor and unequal payment of the average workers especially those who worked on farms.
After the assimilation of immigrants, they well adapted the American environment and started to shift from one region to another finding the favorable conditions for their stay and well-being resulting from in-migration. It is through the in-migration that people who moved to various urban centers joined and formed bases where they lived as a group developing ethnic enclaves. Ethnic enclaves can be defined as the urban areas where the minority group with distinct cultural values mostly live separate from the entire indigenous community surrounding them (Brettell, et al. 2014). The enclave caves played an essential role in acting as the bridging period of the new immigrants who had different cultures to the native population during their assimilation in the American society.
It is during the early 20th century that the rules regarding immigration and rights of the immigrants were changed in such a way that they were conducive to the entire community thus having a political impact on the nation. Also, the immigrants provided labor and some invested in the United States leading to the societal, economic growth.
References
Brettell, C. B., & Hollifield, J. F. (2014). INTRODUCTION Migration Theory Talking Across Disciplines. In Migration theory (pp. 13-48). Routledge.
Holmes, C. (2015). John Bull’s island: immigration and British society, 1871-1971. Routledge.
Political culture and poverty in India today
Sociology
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Introduction
Culture is a complex phenomenon that comprises that man acquires as a member of a particular society. Culture can either be material or nonmaterial. Material culture comprises of tangible objects and equipment produced and made by man. Nonmaterial culture on the other comprises of capabilities that man acquires in a group life (Radhakrishnan, 2004). Every civilization possesses its character rooted in its cultural dharma or values. Like any other country, India has its culture that the people follow in their daily lives. The paper will examine India’s culture political system and look at the problem associated with the country’s culture. It will also looks at how the political system and culture have an effect on the solutions and development policies on the problems India faces.
Political culture
Culture is a profound possession ramified throughout a person’s life. Regardless of the part or aspect of a society considered, the presence of the mode of culture is of great importance. Politics is among the unavoidable facts or circumstances of human relations and existence. People are always involved in a particular fashion at a time in a kind of the political system. Every political system is enclosed in a psychological and sociological environment set of beliefs, values, attitudes and orientation of people when it comes to politics. These orientation and beliefs are what is termed as the political culture. Political culture within a nation tries to give a definition of the situation in which particular political actions are taken. It also provides a subjective orientation when it comes to the politics of a nation. Political culture comprises of political ideas as well as the operating ideas of polity. Political culture comprises of the political values, attitudes to politics, national character, ideologies, and cultural ethos. It is also a kind of style and substantive kind of politics.
The political culture of people in a country gives them the orientation towards its processes and polity. Learning about political culture comprises of observing how political structure operates. Political beliefs are affected and affect the way structures operate as well as the circle of relationship between structure and culture. Political culture can, therefore, be termed as the manifestation of subjective and psychological dimensions of politics. Political culture arises from collective history of a particular political system and also the life histories of those who are part of the system. Therefore, political culture is to the political system just as culture is to a particular social system.
Political culture in India today
There has not been any stable inner-equilibrium achieved by India today because it is condemned to grow up or undergo evolution at the history cross-roads. Rapid globalization and economic globalization, as well as the mergence of speed as an important part of culture and politics, have led to a high-risk society. India’s political community is still in the making. It is a mechanical mixture that is made up of ancestral bureaucracy, isolated and insulted armed forces, and a corporate sector that is self-centered. It also comprises of upcoming rural-urban classes that are hybrid and organized TU and white collar labor workers. The political class is ideological and political. It is also infatuated with a culture of expression and not that of restrain and also free-market economy that is based on neo-conservation. Leaders have established their trysts and with a destiny (Mayer, 2006).
There has also been the assertion of corruption and other authoritarian behavior. The vast assets of the state have ended up being propriety, undercover of a public sector that has been bureaucratized. There has also been a growth in corruption that has led to the destruction of good government and also the honesty within society. The administrative and political elite are powerful parasites within the Indian society.
Elements of political culture
There are various things that make up the political culture in India. First of all, there has been the politicization of the civil society. Everything within the civil society in India has been turned out into a political affair. These include things like NGO’s, gender relations, the child and also other vulnerable sections of the society. The long-range tolerance and historical time of India have also been politicized. Literature, language and other creative art forms have been politicized (Mayer, 2006). These things have been made all about politics such that different works of art and literature are done based on political figures or political issues. The other political element in India is fragmentation that refers to the tendency of fragmenting and re-integrating, fractionalization, splitting, and consensually of the political formations, for instance, political parties. Within India, there is also a culture revolving around political bhakti, a cult that involves hero worship, personality, and dynasticism. It has resulted to the worship of the political leaders in India and treating them as if they are gods. Another element of the political culture in India is majoritarianism that has led to a crisis in the representative system and also led to minorityism. In India, there is a lot of politics of streets and populism that has consequently led to bona fide political processes being depoliticized. When it comes to conflict resolution, there are a lot of litigious propensities (Mayer, 2006). There is a lot of political incest and plagiarism in India which includes administrative reform. Another element of political culture in India is regionalism whereby, the country is divided into different regions based on their political affiliations. In India, there is a dominant culture of bureaucratic controls that has led to a lot of economic disparity in different regions within the country. Another element is corruption that is carried out consciously by the leaders in India. The leaders in India also practice politics with a lot of different forms of crime.
There is also a lot of chankayan diplomacies and Hindu ambiguities in the open polity of India. Ethics of illegality are also a common element of India’s political culture. There is also a lot of politics involving violence to intimidate people and break the morale of minorities as well as encourage the macho culture among the Hindus. It means that there is use of a lot of words masculinization for the Hindus while among Muslims there is use of effeminization. There is a lot of abuse of the grey zones of what is termed as discretionary powers. Political leaders in India also practice a lot of procrastination and biding time in order to dilute any progressive measures by the cult when it comes to appointing investigators and commissions of inquiry. In the recent decade, the idea of politics has ended up being reductionist and fragmentary. For instance, elections have now become democratic than they were before (Sharma, 2009). The majoritarian notion of politics in India demands that everyone in the country becomes part of the mainstream politics. Within this middle-class majoritarianism, there is a lot that becomes corroded. There is the need to protect democracy against majoritarianism by minorities like Buddhist, Muslims, Christians and other tribes in India. An example is the politicization of the civil society that is meant to be away from the power orbit and carrying out its functions independently. Civil society refers to an association that is voluntary in nature that stands between the state and households with some form of autonomy. The civil society in India toady is quite dispersed and fragmented. The existing balance between the civil society and state is going tilting backward (Mayer, 2006).
The existing autonomous space, that the civil society enjoyed, is slowly shrinking. The voluntary sector has currently become bureaucratized. Currently, NGO’S India is termed as Non-Gazetted Officers. There is also the use of legislative power in India such as gangajal in order to purify the illegalities that leaders advocate. There has been a lot of commercialization of residential areas across both major and minor cities. It includes big cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai to other upcoming cities like Jammu, Jaipur, and Bhopal. Illegal developments have gone on over the past decade with support from the political leaders under the eyes of the authorities in the different parts of the country (Sharma, 2009).
Problem with India’s political system
The democratic pillars within India are quite deep that it is hard for them to be pulled. A proven fact is that a lot of time and mechanisms have been used to save the democratic values within India. Even though India has the best system to maintain democracy, there have been many gaps created that have led to the growth of the unnecessary weed that has brought India to its current dilapidated state. The political system in India is in a way that it can manage to expand its base through the existing loopholes. However, the forefathers of the constitution used in India have not done a lot of assessment that can help in dealing with the political defects that are in India. It is a problem that has now become unmanageable and it is quite difficult to control (Sharma, 2009)
There are various defects within the political system in India. First, India lacks a strong political party that is ready to defect against the political system in India. Congress was the majority party in India, and it ruled consecutively. Having a strong and major political party is of benefit in that it can do well to people but at the same time, it can misuse power. The strong party has ended up being degraded due to power misuse. Currently, the political system in India is run by regional and sub-regional parties resulting to multiple party system (Yadav, 2013)
Another problem in the political system in India is coalition governments. There is a rising era of the coalition government in India, but this is a problem because the leading party has always to listen to the demands of other parties they with which they are working together. It leads to slow decision-making, and few policies fail to come to action because of the opposition. Coalition governments lead to favoritism and delayed decision-making. Family politics is a major problem in the political system in India. Family politics is natural and common in India. If an individual goes into politics, their entire family goes into the political process. The opinions of family members are often rubbed on to the people. There is a lot of inheritance within the Indian political system.
Poverty in India
According to the universality of economic logic, we can say that poverty in India is caused by the political system. Among other British colonies, India is the only country that has managed to have a sustained democracy. However, it does not mean that the country is immune to the democracy paradox. The different democracy dynamics together with Nehruvian growth model left no room for safety of life in India from the visible foot of the government. There was no abolishment of private property but ended up micromanaging the aspects of production, distribution and consumption. The government achieved this through a quota system termed as license-permit. The system meant that bureaucrats and politicians had a lot of power (Sharma, 2009). It resulted to a lot of misuse of power that led to a lot of corruption within the different systems in India. Apart from the influence of political leaders we can say that the culture of the Indian people has also led to its unending state of poverty. In Hindu religion, the purpose of one’s life is to work towards being relieved from cycles of birth and death. One way of accomplishing this goal is through denouncing the material world. Most mortals are not able to denounce material world and hence there is a suggested way of living with prescribed guidelines. According to the Indian culture, the human lifestyle is divided into four parts by age each with its goals and rules. Therefore, the people of India do not strive to achieve nay material thing in life (Radhakrishnan, 2004). The country lacks focused individuals who are meant to work hard to better the country. It has led to the people being manipulated by their leaders and hence there is no substantial l development of the people and the country as a whole. It is also the few leaders in power who continue being richer every day.
India has suffered from arrested development for a very long time and failed fully to exploit the potential of its democratic system in order for people to benefit. The historical politicization in India left a backlog of conflicts that were not resolved. The political system in India is the key to the issues of poverty that India has been facing. Most of the leaders in India are born having seats beneath them Political inheritance, family politics and corruption are experienced due to certain people holding power. They pass on these ideologies to other leaders who they can influence because they are their family members. It calls for the end of Family politics and the politics of inheritance. Fresh ideas should be injected into the political system of India. Democracy should be followed to the latter when it comes to electing and appointing leaders. Political empowerment and chance should reach everyone within India. Few leaders and businessmen should not hold power as property.
Conclusion
Though India is the most democratic country in the world, just like all others it has its own weaknesses. India is governed by its own culture and has a political culture in place. The political culture in India has numerous problems associated with it that have led to the lingering poverty in the country. The only solution to the problem is by changing the political culture in India s well as the ideologies and beliefs of the people.
References
Mayer, P. (2006). Patterns of Urban Political Culture in India. Asian Survey, 400-407.
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Radhakrishnan, S. (2004). Culture of India. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 18-21.
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Sharma, R. (2009). Political culture in post-independent India. New Delhi: Ram Avtar Sharma and Sushma Yadav.
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Sudarshan, R. (2010). In quest of state: Politics and judiciary in India*. The Journal of Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 44-69.
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Yadav, Y. (2013). The Enigma that is Politics in India. Studies in Indian Politics, 13-20.