Pro Life Beliefs and Nursing

Nurses General Nursing

Published

After spending weeks at a hospital while my dad was there I decided I wanted to pursue nursing as my future career after the great care they provided and I wish to do the same to others. I have pro-life beliefs and would not be able to live with myself killing a child. I know abortion is not an easy topic to discuss and I find I am very ignorant on the subject.

I would never treat anyone who has had an abortion differently and would give the best care to anyone regardless of religion or life choices. If anyone was in a certain situation when they started nursing school I would love to hear advice on what you did. I see myself either specializing in nurse researching/informatics or even oncology. I'm still learning and everything seems new and overwhelming to me so any input is greatly appreciated.

This is in no way meant to push any of my beliefs on any individual or to start arguments. I thank each and every one of you who are in a nursing field or will be in the future. Your work is invaluable.

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I am very much pro-life and make no apologies for it. But in 17 years as a working nurse, even doing some time in OB-GYN, I never ran across this situation. It was easy because I never put myself in a situation where I would have had to participate in an abortion.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care and ED.

I'm very pro-choice, but in 29 years I've never had to deal with it. Having said that, the answer is simple. Do your job and don't allow your personal prejudices to interfere with your professionalism.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.

I absolutely LOVE the respectful discussion here, and appreciate every poster who commented.

OP - I'm pleased that you're considering nursing after your experience with your dad, because he received excellent compassionate care. In nursing school and beyond you're going to run up against MANY things that do not align with your personal beliefs...and you may find your personal beliefs change over time. Providing compassionate, patient-centric care means that we let go sometimes of how we think things OUGHT to be and work with what is.

Best of luck!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

In nursing school, almost 30 year ago now, a classmate brought up a similar issue. The instructor's response was "don't take that type of position".

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC and Pediatrics.
In nursing school, almost 30 year ago now, a classmate brought up a similar issue. The instructor's response was "don't take that type of position".

THIS Don't put yourself in the situation where that would be problematic.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I absolutely LOVE the respectful discussion here, and appreciate every poster who commented.

YES to Ruby's comment!

Working in NICU has given me some really interesting thoughts on abortion, both from a pro-life and a pro-choice perspective. It's fascinating stuff, but I don't want to derail this forum.

The primary place I could see it being an issue is if the OP eventually wanted to work in an NP position, especially in a role where you interface with younger adults (including PNPs or school nurses working with teens). In that case, you may run into situations where you have to counsel people who are finding out that they're pregnant about their options; it would still be pretty rare, especially if you were to work in a specialty that primarily deals with older adults (like oncology). In my opinion, the most important thing is to recognize your biases, try to remain objective, and know when to refer the case to somebody else if you can't remain objective.

I have seen a couple of oncology cases in the NICU where pregnant women had to decide if they wanted to terminate their pregnancies and continue chemo, or forgo chemo and carry the baby to viability. In the NICU we obviously only saw the cases in which the moms decided not to terminate; in each case that I've seen, the infant survived but the mother did not. :(

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.

I have seen a couple of oncology cases in the NICU where pregnant women had to decide if they wanted to terminate their pregnancies and continue chemo, or forgo chemo and carry the baby to viability. In the NICU we obviously only saw the cases in which the moms decided not to terminate; in each case that I've seen, the infant survived but the mother did not. :(

Oh, my heart. Thank you for working the NICU. I know I could not!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I'm very pro-choice, but in 29 years I've never had to deal with it. Having said that, the answer is simple. Do your job and don't allow your personal prejudices to interfere with your professionalism.

I couldn't agree more. We are there to treat patients not judge them of their decisions.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

In surgery ICU, this has never been an issue in almost 20 years there. Usually moral\ ethical issues here have to deal with the end of life issues - something for you to think about as well.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Neuro.

I'm personally pro-life and a nursing student. But, I also respect the choices of those who believe in pro-choice even if that is not my belief system. With that said, I feel like this will have no impact on my future nursing practice. Will I pursue employment at an abortion clinic any time soon, no, but other than that, that is the extent of where I draw "the line". I'll definitely have to care for patients one day who had or will have abortions, some who may need it for medical or psychological purposes, etc.

My personal belief and what they are now pounding into our nursing student minds is you have to always strive to leave your personal beliefs or judgments at the door when you walk through the doors to care for patients.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

You can't obstruct care but you would not be under an obligation to partake if you have a religious objection. Preferably, this should be a very rare occurance. Where this may come in to play is in a situation like plan B after a rape as an ER nurse. You WOULD be obligated to have another nurse provide the medication if you objected to giving it yourself. There are very few areas of nursing where you would find yourself in a constant state of moral dilemma, being pro-life. An abortion clinic is an obvious one, but other right to life issues may be found in IVF, OBGYN, L&D, Forensics, or surgical care. In oncology you may have a patient who is pregnant and has cancer... their doctor may counsel them on abortion, they may ask you or try and speak with you about it.My personal take is that it is not our conversation to have, anyways, as students or licensed RN's. You didn't say you wanted to go into L&D or OBGYN care, but if so, I would find a NaPro Technology trained doctor who tends to be on the pro-life side of reproductive care.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

If this is really an issue for you I'd avoid oncology, to be honest. I did women's oncology and ran into a few patients we scheduled for abortions, even later term ones.. knowing that you have a very small amount of time for treatment for a fast moving cancer can cause patients to make a variety of decisions and abortion is one of them.

Not to be morbid but I even had one patient that was awaiting chemo treatment the next day who had the bassinet in her room with her child that had aborted late term enough for this to be an option, so she could say a final goodbye before she started treatment. It happens.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment