Abortion

The word abortion inflicts a variety of emotions for many people. Some are fervent on protecting human life, while the opposition vehemently stands for a woman’s right to choose. Abortions have performed since ancient times. The highly ethical debate on abortions has been a hot topic for centuries. In 1973, the United States Supreme Court legalized the procedure with the case Roe v. Wade, making it a constitutional right. However, in most recent news, the state of Alabama is attempting to overturn this law by making abortion illegal after 6 weeks of gestation. The heartbeat bill is a proposed law, which would make abortions illegal as soon as the fetus’ heartbeat can be detected. If this bill passes, it will become effective November 2019. The consequences for physicians would be punishable with felony charges and up to 99 years in prison. This many mean more women taking matters into their own hands. Recent studies suggest that self-induced abortions are on the rise in the United States (Oberman, 2018). This situation creates a great divide in the medical field regarding patient advocacy and personal beliefs. Whether the fetus in utero has rights is a political dispute and ethical issue.

In this paper I will examine how the termination of a pregnancy effects patients rights but also a health professionals belief system. As medical health care workers, we are faced with daily ethical issues that may sometimes challenge us to our core. Personal struggles that are faced in the decision-making process of helping a client obtain an abortion or choosing to follow personal or religious values remains a gray area. “The relationship between beliefs about abortion and the decision to participate in the procedure is not simple or straightforward” (Czarnecki et al., 2019). This paper will contain both sides of this debate in order to shed light on this ethical, sensitive issue.

References

Czarnecki, D., Anspach, R. R., De Vries, R. G., Dunn, M. D., Hauschildt, K., & Harris, L. H. (2019). Conscience reconsidered: The moral work of navigating participation in abortion care on labor and delivery. Social Science & Medicine, 232, 181–189. https://doi-org.chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.03.034

Oberman, M. (2018). Abortion Bans, Doctors, and the Criminalization of Patients. Hastings Center Report, 48(2), 5–6. https://doi org.chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/hast.831