Abortion: Pro-Choice Vs. Pro Life Dilemma

It is an issue that put most nurses in examining their own personal bias or beliefs in order to uphold advocacy in a nonjudgmental manner like Emily Kerber. Her primary goal as counsellor in a Pregnancy Resource Center is to offer support to women seeking assistance with unplanned pregnancies. The assistance include meeting with these women prior to their ultrasound appointment, providing a safe environment and emotional support, performing pregnancy tests and discussing for any other tests required. The counselling nature of Kerber’s calling makes her as God’s instrument in communicating with these people (who feel helpless or think that there is no other option stored for them). Kerber (2015) mentioned that “understanding the heart and mind of a woman facing unplanned pregnancy can be a challenging. While many women are elated and overjoyed to discover they are pregnant, not every woman feels that way” (p. 20), this statement simply suggests that she was experiencing difficulties in dealing with these crucial situations some time in her nursing practice (as expected in her background as a pro-life supporter) . Kerber mentioned that the transition of roles, from being the Director of Nursing at a licensed non-profit, pro-life medical clinic (clinical setting) to a counsellor (in counselling room) is an act of stepping out from her comfort

A care worker who holds certain religious or moral values about abortion may face a dilemma when trying to assist a person receiving care who becomes pregnant and wishes to have an abortion.

Nurses face ethical dilemmas every day, and although there are no right or wrong answers, there are ethical principles nurses use to base their ethical decision. The American Nursing Association (ANA) offers a Code of Ethics for Nurses that provides a framework to help support nurses with their ethical dilemmas they encounter at work. One common ethical dilemma nurses are faced with is patient’s reproductive rights. Pro-choice versus pro-life is an argument that may never be resolved. If the nurse is pro-life will he/she be able to support the patient’s right for an abortion? And if the nurse is pro-choice can he/she support the patient’s decision to continue a pregnancy that threatens the patient’s life? It’s difficult to separate your own bias with your nursing practice on issues this personal. The nurses should understand their own beliefs, knowledge and behavior regarding the subject before they can help the patient. Watson’s Theory of Human Caring can be applied in this situation by having the nurse assist the patient in defining the range of possible responses to the situation so the patient can develop the best answer for themselves. The nurse should provide support regardless of the patient’s decision and the nurses beliefs. A nurse who tries to attempt persuade a patient in their decision based on the nurse’s beliefs

Moreover, an emphasis is imposed on the rights of a single patient to commit an act or decision even though it is in contrast with the views of the others. In regards to the ethical dilemma, a nurse could not justify the morality of the two possible choices based on their results and consequences. The Deontological approach would encourage the health care staff as well as the patient to ask themselves the most righteous choice for their situation. With this in mind, a combination of ethical theories can also be employed to give light to the dilemma. In view of this, another ethical approach could be applied to solve the issue, and this is the Right-based approach. This theory also aim to promote the rights of every person, and that, they are indispensable just to make ends meet. However, not all ethical theories can be incorporated in every dilemma in a health care setting because their foundations would contradict one another. In order to provide an effective and efficient solution, nurses should be knowledgeable of the principles enveloping each of the ethical theories and should be wise to apply them in appropriate issues and

Ethical Principles Nurses are required to make responsible judgments, decisions, and actions. When making decisions related to patients, they have to uphold the ethics governing the profession and guarantee quality and safety. Moreover, nurses should respect patients, unobstructed by considerations of their social or economic status, individual attributes, or medical conditions (Winland-Brown, Lachman, & Swanson, 2015a). Nurses have the duty to promote health and care, preserve wholeness of character and honesty, and observe professionalism (Winland-Brown, Lachman, & Swanson, 2015b). Moreover, they have to be accountable for every single decision that they make.

Throughout the United States there has always been a big debate on whether or not abortion is ethically acceptable or not. Though many individuals see it as killing a child, many others can overlook that burden and see the consequences of having a child at that point in time. Individuals who are put in a pregnancy situation and have to look into all aspects of an abortion and the reasons for this procedure, while also realizing the biological development of the fetus, and the process of an abortion.

Nurses are constantly challenged by changes which occur in their practice environment and are under the influence of internal or external factors. Due to the increased complexity of the health system, nowadays nurses are faced with ethical and legal decisions and often come across dilemmas regarding patient care. From this perspective a good question to be raised would be whether or not nurses have the necessary background, knowledge and skills to make appropriate legal and ethical decisions. Even though most nursing programs cover the ethical and moral issues in health care, it is questionable if new nurses have the depth of knowledge and understanding of these issues and apply them in their practice

This author has chosen to discuss the ethical issues of abortion. This is a highly debated topic that will exist amongst women. It is happening at high rates. “In 2013, 664,435 legal induced abortions

Codes of ethics contain a coherent set of normative principles underlying a nurse’s purpose and associated values (Vanlaere and Gastmans, 2007). Two perspectives of ethics are the ethics of justice and the ethics of care (Botes, 2000). The ethics of justice constitutes an ethical perspective in terms of which ethical decisions are made on the basis of universal principles and rules, and in an impartial and verifiable manner with a view to ensuring the fair and equitable treatment of all people (Botes, 2000). The ethics of care, on the other hand, constitutes an ethical approach in terms of which involvement, harmonious relations and the needs of others play an important part in ethical decision making in each ethical situation (Botes, 2000).

Ethical Principles Nurses are required to make responsible judgments, decisions, and actions. Consequently, they have to uphold the ethics governing the profession, and guarantee quality and safety when making decisions related to patients. In addition, nurses should respect patients and remain unobstructed by their social or economic status, individual attributes, or medical conditions (Winland-Brown, Lachman, & Swanson, 2015a). Nurses should promote health and care, preserve wholeness of character and honesty, and observe professionalism (Winland-Brown, Lachman, & Swanson, 2015b). In addition, they have to be accountable for every single decision that they make.

The first ethical issue will be right to life and abortion. Abortion remains controversial and a highly debated subject. The ethical debate concerning abortion is the considerations of a woman’s autonomy and the rights of the woman and the unborn child. The parent/ child relationship and assessing the best interests of potential children also provide considerable scope for ethical discussion. (Jones K, Chaloner C 2007). A factor in the ethical future of abortion is the perception of morality, or of actively ending the life of an unborn human being. This process of deductive reasoning explains the most common anti-abortion argument: First, the fetus is an innocent human being. Second, it is morally wrong to kill an innocent human being and lastly, it is morally wrong to kill a fetus. This reasoning can also be applied to support a viewpoint to those who support abortion. First the fetus has no moral status. Secondly, it is not morally wrong to destroy that which has no moral status. Lastly, it is not morally wrong to destroy a fetus.

Although experiences are subjective, women that have later abortions tend to feel more pain and distress following the procedure and so early abortion on a personal level, is preferred (British Pregnancy Advisory Service 2010). Delays caused by the complexity of regulation can therefore, not only intensify unpleasantness but intensify health risks. The law fails to recognise the responsibility of the role of nurses in abortion practise today. It needs to be updated so that nurses can continue to lead the abortion process but without obtaining the signature of two doctors. Training programmes should be offered to nurses to qualify them in independently carrying out abortions at all gestation stages. These reforms would avoid time wasting. More time would enable more available appointments for termination. Ultimately, it would break the barrier of accessing abortion at an early stage (Furedi 2008).

Abortion is a deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. There are series of legal, moral and ethical issues which may arise about abortion. Most arguments about abortion are often focused on political insinuations and the legal aspect of such actions. Some frequently asked questions’ regarding the issue is if the practice should be outlawed and regarded as murder or should women have the right to practice it. For example, prior to becoming pregnant, some women feel that they would be able to choose the abortion option without trouble. However, even with reasons why having an abortion would be the best option, some women feel that this decision would not be right for them. On the other hand, some women have a strong belief that abortion is unethical prior to becoming pregnant.

Abortion is a highly-debated topic of whether it is ethical for a woman to decide to have one. Abortion is any of various surgical methods for deliberately terminating a pregnancy. When we speak of abortion today, we mean induced abortion performed by trained doctors, not including miscarriage (MacKinnon & Fiala, 2015). Some current methods of abortion are morning-after pill, mifepristone, uterine or vacuum aspiration, dilation and curettage, saline solution, prostaglandin drugs, hysterotomy, and partial birth abortion. Abortion involves questions about rights, happiness, and well-being, as well as the status and value of human life. The people who think it is ethical to have an abortion stand on the Pro-choice side and the people who think it is unethical stand on the Pro-life side. The liberal view of abortion supports abortions and the conservative view opposes abortion. There are many legal, religious, and medical conflicts that are included in the debate over abortion. The arguments made from both sides help us better understand whether a woman should have an abortion.

Our society is filled with numerous ethical dilemmas. We are consistently bombarded with ethical issues daily. At times, these ethical dilemmas are virtually impossible to unravel. I believe the topic of abortion is one of the most difficult and controversial issues in today’s society. It is also the one people are most passionate about as it continues to be scrutinized by two groups, holding fast to different perspectives; Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice.