Ethical Aspects Of Nursing Care Related To Abortion Summary

Ethical Aspect of Nursing Care Related to Abortion

Lisha Green

Tarrant County College

Ethical Aspect of Nursing Care Related to Abortion

Article Summary: This article is about the personal experiences and views of nurses whom have all worked in facilities where abortions have taken place. Such places are, emergency departments, intensive care, units, labor, and delivery, operating rooms, post anesthesia care units and abortion clinics. These nurses provide care to patients in situations that are ethically challenging. Some of them going back and forth between personal and professional views and/or having many conflicting opinions themselves concerning abortion and their obligation as nurses to care for patients who have them. They

Some feel it is the woman’s right to make decisions concerning their own bodies and they have no objection caring for a woman who has had an abortion. Others, feel deeply about their personal moral or religious convictions and could not participate nor care for a woman who has had an abortion (McKinney, 2018; McLemore, 2015). The article gives account of nurses who have been in positions where they participated in and/or cared for women who have had elective abortions. For some, they give account of how they struggle with conflicting opinions within themselves concerning their choice in this matter. Also, the challenges they face in dealing with their colleagues, by being labeled as an abortion nurse or not getting information and proper paperwork in a timely manner, causing a non-cohesive working environment as well as condemnation from family members, friends, etcetera. Others, do not struggle at all with their decision concerning care for women who elect to have an abortion (McLemore, 2015). Both the book and article talk about the circumstances and reasoning the nurses use to determine what care they are willing to give to the woman receiving an elected abortion (McKinney, 2018; McLemore, 2015). The book states that nurses are not obligated to support a moral decision that they do not agree with. There are laws in some states

Autonomy is having self-directing freedom, moral independence and rights such as privacy, to be respected and to have access to information necessary to make informed decisions. Autonomy is when one has the right to make their own decisions without external control. In the healthcare field, a registered nurse has the right to make the decision whether to or not to participate in an abortion or to care for a patient who has had one. Principles that guide decision making may at some point conflict and the nurse may have to apply another ethical principle for the welfare of the patient at some point. The decision to participate in an elected abortion or not is an ethical dilemma since it is sometimes a circumstance where no result seems entirely acceptable (McKinney,