just had an ethics class on "termination of pregnancy" yesterday and this is me jotting down things discussed during the class. some views may offend various people in various ways and in no way does the following represent my personal beliefs towards this controversial topic. there's way too much controversy embroiling it already and each side has valid and logical arguements so i'll be the runner that i tend to be and remove myself from the debate. should i encounter a patient in the future who is thinking of abortion, well i've already thought of that too. gonna have a sign on my practice office telling people this service is not offered on these premises and they should seek another medical practitioner who is agreeable to offer assistance in terminating pregnancies.
anyway, these are "light lectures" meaning that they're just the gist of the class ~ it's more for my own sake to have notes somewhere than anything really.
- abortion - defined as a termination of a pregnancy
- various viewpoints
- conservative point of view believes that the fetus is human and to deny it the right to live would be considered murder. they emphasize on the intrinsic value of life (ie natural/god-given investment in the development of a human being)
- liberal viewpoint is often expressed as the woman's right to choose
- christian & non-christians both believe that it is wrong to terminate a pregnancy after the point in which the soul is enslaved in the mass of cells, making those cells a human being. whether this occurs at the moment of conception or 4 months down the line is another issue, depending on the religion in question.
- despite the standpoint, most people agree that abortion is a grave and serious moral decision that should not be made for trivial or flippant reasons. what constitutes as trivial or flippant is also another area of debate i suppose... most people also agree that should the mother's life be in danger, it is ok to "sacrifice" the life of the fetus to maintain maternal well-being
- Fx of abortion include obviously death and miscarriage of the fetus. psychiatric sequelae for the mother is generally mild and not enough evidence supports this being a public health issue.
- The role of health professionals in all this is prolly the most directly relevant aspect of the whole lecture for me. There are "conscience clauses" that allow health professionals to refuse to participate in procedures when they have a conscientious objection to the procedure involved or when they have a moral objection to the disease concerned. That being said, health professionals still have the obligation to assis the patient in understanding her decision and other options possible, even if it means referring to someone else if one disagrees. in not doing so, one denies the patient any degree of autonomy in this decision.. a nono!
- Legally, ACT is the only state that has formally legalized abortion in australia. in NSW, legislation prohibits the "unlawful" administration of drugs or use of any other means to deliberately cause a woman to miscarry. because the legislation mentions "unlawful," one would think that there's a "lawful" way of doing things, no? there are circumstances where abortion may be "lawful" but this falls under the defence of "necessity" whereby two conditions must be met - that the termination of pregnancy must be necessary and that steps taken must be proportionate to the danger being avoided
- The role of the potential father was brought up at the end of the discussion... oddly enough, or not.. the father has no right in preventing an abortion. poor chaps ~ a few have taken their cases to court to no avail =(
- Facts and such
- artificial termination of pregnancy is common here
- women in their 20s account for most abortions performed here
- 1 out of 5 aussie teens will become pregnant between 15 - 19 years old and about half will have an abortion
'twas an interesting and heated ethics lecture, i must say. kudos to our brilliant lecturer for trying to mediate the whole discussion despite some very strong opinions expressed!
