Medical Ethical Controversy
A recent medical ethical controversy that resurfaces every few years is the debate of abortion. The Roe v. Wade US Supreme Court decision in 1973 made a significant change to abortion laws, giving women the choice to terminate pregnancy without requiring eminent health risks to the mother. (n.d., 2015) The ethical debate of abortion continues even with the practice being legal.
The 2016 GOP elections are placing the debate of abortion back in the limelight. (Milligan, 2015) Some groups of individuals have strong beliefs about abortion being ethically wrong and should not be allowed as an option. As with any ethical dilemma there are strong believers on each side of the situation. Pro-life versus Pro-choice is
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The new regulations are aimed at the donation of the tissues from aborted fetuses. The release of Planned Parenthood videos discussing this practice has brought much exposure to this practice. The sale of tissue from an aborted fetus is illegal, unless the patient consents to donating the tissue. (Ura/Walters, 2015)
Medical professionals that choose to work within the abortion industry are met with much controversy and at times danger to their well-being. The 1991 murder of Dr. David Gunn started several years of murders, assaults and bombings against abortion clinics and employees. The irony of these individuals committing murder to protest a woman’s right to obtain an abortion, is blatantly obvious. The fact that medical professionals have to fear for their safety because they are providing a legal service to patients is ridiculous.
Whether a person would choose to obtain an abortion for themselves, does not provide them for the right to make a decision about what another individual would choose to do. Personally I am a Pro-choice supporter and support any woman who deems that an abortion is the right decision based on her individual circumstances. The ethical dilemma of abortion will not be disappearing anytime soon, because of the strong emotions of
Abortions were widely used in the early eighteen hundreds and kept secret due public scrutineer. Not only were they considered against the law in some places but were risky due to high risk of infection from unsterile equipment used to perform the actions.” Without today’s current technology, maternal and infant mortality rates during childbirth were extraordinarily high. “(National abortion Federation, 2016) as time contained states changed and modified their laws to accommodate political agendas, these opposed to legal abortion had begun to fight absent any stated funded abortion clines. Then there was Roe v. Wade this was the first major Supreme Court battle based on abortion laws and ethics. Roe v. Wade decision of the courts said that they “considered the constitutionality of a Texas statute made it a crime to obtain an abortion except when it was necessary to save the life of the mother”. (Harris, 2014) There was another Supreme Court case that changed the views of the courts based on how they judge the frame work of decision on the trimester model. The ethics involved in this are not just solely left to the mother of the potential life but in the network of people
Ever since the case of Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion has been one of the most contentious issues in our society. In some cases people think abortion is murder, in others, it’s reasonable for some cases. Then there are people who use it just to take advantage of it. The legal stance of abortion is a hot topic in today’s society.
The United States has been divided now over the issue of abortion for thirty-three years since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade in 1973. As of today, over 45 million legal abortions have been performed in the United States. Pro-choice advocates hold these 45 million abortions as being 45 million times women have exercised their right to choose to get pregnant and to choose to control their own bodies. To pro-life, or anti-abortion, advocates these 45 million abortions constitute 45 million murders, a genocide of human life in the United States propagated by the court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade. The debate over abortion in the United States is thus a debate of two extremes. One side argues from the personal liberty of the mother. The
There are many common pregnancy alternatives, but most often the resulting decision is abortion because it is effortless. Abortion is endings a women’s pregnancy by removing or forcing a fetus or embryo from the mother’s womb before it is able to survive on its own. Not all abortions are purposely done some are spontaneous like when a women that has a miscarriage. Rather abortion is done purposely or naturally it is a worldwide complication as to it being wrong or right. Abortion is an ethical issue that will be analyzed according to a personal worldview and Christian worldview. Ethical thinking will be examined by value-based decisions that address abortion from the perspective of a Christian worldview and comparing it to a personal assumption by addressing ethical dilemma, core beliefs, resolution, evaluation, and comparison.
An 18 year old girl gets pregnant and can’t decide whether to keep the baby or have an abortion. Her parents are very religious and do not believe in sex before marriage therefore would not take to kindly to their daughter being pregnant.
Abortion is one of the most controversial topics that has divided America due to its fundamental and morals beliefs. Democrats argue that a woman should have the right to make their own health decisions, while republicans pro-life’s point of view is that abortion is giving someone the right to kill a human being. Pro-life individuals stress that psychological and medical risks will develop after an abortion such as troubled relationships, suicide, risk of PID, pelvic infection deceased and infertility. Our current presidential abortion debate also argues the amount of funds given by the government to planned parenthood estimates to 528.4 million dollars last year alone. One of the major issues that pro-life individuals have argue on the anti abortion debate is that planned parenthood has been accused of illegally selling fetal tissues and organs, it also exposed abortion clinics as horrific and unhealthy abortion practices. The question is should
The debate over abortion has been going on for almost 50 years, and is still a controversial topic for most American families today. The two opposing sides are often referred to as
Although abortion was legalized in 1973 by the Roe v. Wade case, legal is not equivalent to moral. The Roe v. Wade case has had many disputes against its ruling, but the ultimate decision still remains the law. According to Butts & Rich (2016), the following 41 years after the case decision was made, 57 million abortions were performed. This only includes abortions that were registered. Legalizing elective abortions gave permission for women to end a pregnancy for any given reason. This author does not believe that it is moral for an abortion to be done because the mother is scared or feels like it is not “the right time.” The pro-life view simply acknowledges the rights of an unborn fetus. Unless the mother’s life is threatened by continuing the pregnancy, abortion is not a solution. No matter the case, a nurse must consider their own beliefs on this matter in order to provide competent care.
Before researching on abortion issues, I never imagined it to be such controversial and debatable case because the problem arises from the very early stages of analyzing what administrative ethics would answer. I became overwhelmed to start because my mind became blurred on legality and ethics of abortion as early as defining administrative ethics: “well-based standards of right and wrong prescribing what public administrators ought to do in terms of duty to public service, principles, virtues, and benefits to society”. Ethics triangle is grounded on duties in the center with principles, virtues, and benefits to society augmenting it. Duties of public administrator involves those ‘obligations taken on while assuming a position’. They might
Of all the legal, ethical, and moral issues we Americans continuously fight for or against, abortion may very well be the issue that Americans are most passionate about. The abortion issue is in the forefront of political races. Most recently the “no taxpayer funding for abortion act”, has abortion advocates reeling. Even though abortion has been legal in every state in the United States since the monumental Supreme Court decision, “Roe v Wade”, on January 22, 1973; there are fewer physicians willing to perform abortions today than in 2008. (Kraft) At the heart of the ethical dilemma for many in the medical profession is the viability of the fetus. And just to make this whole dilemma more confusing, according to the United States
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.
Abortion is wrong because it is the murder of a human being. Abortion continues to be a moral and ethical dilemma for all those involved. The American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics states, “nurses have the ethical and moral obligation to promote and protect life.” Still, debates continue, opposing the belief of life against the principle of autonomy and a woman’s right to regulate her body. It is disputable that the right to have an abortion is a right to dominate one’s body, but the death of the fetus is an inevitable result of the termination of that pregnancy (Religious studies online, n.d.). One million two hundred thousand abortions are done yearly in the United States from weeks 9 to 21+ of gestation (Pro Life Action League). Nevertheless, nurses, no matter how caring and compassionate, their individual education, culture, religion, past, gender and even age will influence the care that is given to their patients (British Journal of Nursing, 2015, p. 345). With that, if a nurse assists with the procedure of abortion, is he or she going against the Code of Ethics for Nurses? No matter if the nurse assists with the abortion or not certain rules for privacy must be followed. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) Privacy Rule protects the patients’ health information, even those experiencing unwanted pregnancies (Simmonds & Likis, 2011, p. 794).
Although moral degradation among the youth in the United States portrays abortion as a vice that robs innocent infants the right to life, ethical medical practices may indicate abortion as a life-saving procedure. While there may exist unsafe and unprofessional means of medically performing abortion among adolescent girls, ethical medical practices may regulate the risks involved such as health complications and death, in order to promote the health benefits of abortion. Since there exist medically upright physicians motivated by a noble course, the adverse effects of abortion in young women may be controlled through professional services without much health risks and exploitation. Therefore, it is empirical that the high rate of fetal, teenage and youthful women death rate through unwanted pregnancy which leads to a disputing perception of abortion may be corrected through principled medical practices.
Health care professionals have a significant role in the provision of abortion services. Health care professionals has an obligation to treat patients to the best of their ability and protect their privacy. Provisions of the Affordable Care Act states it is unlawful to discriminate against patients based on their sex, race, color, and other statuses such as medical history (Rehnstrom 2015). The ruling of Judge O’Connor blocks this provision of the Affordable Care Act. Which can have a detrimental effect on the health of the community. Allowing health care providers to refuse services to women who has previously had an abortion may create situation where patient will not truthfully disclose information about previous procedures and health issues which will affect the quality of care the patient receives. It will also reduce access to quality health care within the rural and low income community and may discourage individuals from seeking health care services.
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.