Abortion As An Ethical Issue

Nurses in the 1990s are confronted with an array of issues that contain moral dimensions (Clarke, 1991, pp. 22-25). These issues run the gamut from considerations of a patient's right to die, to adhering to physicians' "do not resuscitate" orders, to the role of the nurse in questions of abortion (Silva, 1991, pp. 69-79, Yaring, 1990a, pp. 335-342; Yaring, 1990b, pp. 327-334).

Research has found that a decision to abort or not to abort is difficult for a woman, regardless of the circumstances and the nature of the decision (Hall, 1990, pp. 32-35). Research also has found that many women experience difficulty in verbally expressing their feeling with respect to a decision concerning an abortion (Fraser, 1990, pp. 45-47).

Within the discipline of professional nursing, disparate opinion also exists with respect to the abortion issue (Silva, 1991, pp. 69-79). There are pro-life nurses and pro-choice nurses, as there are pro-life and pro-choice proponents in the general population. There are also professional nurses who are ambivalent towards this volatile issue (Silva, 1991, pp. 69-79).

The professional nurse has a primary responsibility to serve her or his patients. The personal values of individual nurses, however, both should and do influence the approach to the discharge of a nurse's professional responsibility.

This research analyzes the ethical dilemma faced by one professional nurse in relati

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e another. 2. Beneficence: Beneficence requires a nurse to do what is good (Milner, 1993, p. 23). Elements of doing what is goodùproviding treatments and medications, educating, assisting, supporting competency, kindness, and so forthùunfortunately may, at times, conflict with one another. Thus, an ethical decision based upon beneficence often may be complex. Such complexity is present in this case, where doing good for the patient also will do harm to the fetus. 3. Nonmaleficence: Nonmaleficence requires that a nurse do nothing that is harmful (Milner, 1993, p. 23; Corley, Selig, & Ferguson, 1993, p. 120). Within the context of the concept of abortion, the ethical principle of nonmaleficence could be interpreted to mean that a nurse should not assist in a procedure that will lead to the death of the fetus. Conversely, the failure by a nurse to provide care to the patient in this case might cause harm to befall the patient. 4. Fidelity: Fidelity requires a nurse to both keep promises made to others and to protect the trust placed by others in her or him (Milner, 1993, p. 23). This requirement may be interpreted to mean that a nurse is bound to honor formal expressions of patient autonomy, such as the request by the
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Approximate Word count = 1825
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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