Does abortion play a role?

Specialties CNM

Published

Hi, I am Jen and I'm 30... I am a student nurse looking to go into the maternal/L&D/Midwifery world as a specilty after graduation. Whether that is being a L&D nurse or actually becoming a CNM, i am not 100% yet.

My question to you is... I am against abortion, i do not feel i could perform abortions or even refer women to get them die to my moral standpoint on them. I am 100% for family planning, IVF, and every other aspect of the women health world. Is is possible to be a CNM and have these ideals? or is it a conflict of interest? How would a CNM approach a situation where s/he didn't want to refer an abortion? Would you simply say to the pt that there are other CNM on staff who could refer you??

Oh boy, sensitive stuff. In case anyone needs yet another opinion....

First of all, I do believe that one can be pro-life and still be an effective, professional, thorough, and caring midwife. I mean, it's not so ridiculous to think that someone going into this profession wouldn't want to play any part in a baby, or fetus, or whatever, being terminated (or killed). Yes, the appropriate response would be some type of referral, and how about going further and being extremely involved in support for those mothers who do chose not to have an abortion?

When I was 25 I became pregnant out of wedlock and was basically treated like a teen mom at first by everyone...I went on and had the baby and married the guy on our third now etc. (I know that is not the most common outcome). What bothers me is that, in the upper middle class area I am from, it is much more acceptable to have an abortion than to actually make the commitment to have the baby. With an abortion it's almost seen as responsible and people have empathy for you and are there for you cry with you etc., but those few women who chose life are more judged (this is how it seems in my area). That's what I don't like...it would be nice if there was more support for those women who do decide to keep their pregnancies, and as far as women who choose to abort part of the counseling should be just how much emotional pain they will possibly incur which may be considerable and long-lasting. Regardless of whatever choice a woman makes life will be forever changed...

I am mainly pro-life but I think there are circumstances when an abortion is more understandable. I choose to focus my energy and thought process on unwanted pregnancy prevention rather than political rights. I am also vegan, so why would I be against taking animal life but be ok with taking human life? That being said there are circumstances when I would kill and eat an animal (starvation, saving my kids.. you know)

It is sad that abortion is part of our world, that there are situations when women are raped, when mothers have a serious illness and can't carry a pregnancy, that a single mom has no support and the multitude of other reasons why a woman may choose this path. I think we need to keep the context of many of these complex problems when we are having the abortion debates and making laws etc. It's not enough and not ok to just be against abortion but take no interest in the factors that contribute to unwanted pregnancy as well as support and assistance for women who do keep their unplanned pregnancies, and it's also not ok to get so wrapped up in "rights" that we lose sight of the sadness of what abortion is and it becomes more socially acceptable and much "easier" to choose this path. We need try to prevent and heal all the situations that contribute to these outcomes (outcomes of abortion as well as unwanted pregnancies). We also need to provide more support for moms and babies as well as the poor women who have abortions so that they may never need to make that choice again.

Not well written but I am tired :)

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in hospice.

Actually I thought that was extremely well-stated. :up:

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
Babylove2012 said:
it's also not ok to get so wrapped up in "rights" that we lose sight of the sadness of what abortion is and it becomes more socially acceptable and much "easier" to choose this path.

Abortion does not have to be sad, and a lot of women don't think it's sad. In my opinion abortion SHOULD be more socially acceptable and easier to choose.

It's a vital and necessary part of women's health that has existed since the dawn of man, and IMO, the social stigma surrounding it needs to be lessened. Women should not be ashamed to want, need or have had an abortion.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
heron said:
Snotty much?

I'm glad you worked OB with no conflict with your personal morals ... care to share how you did that?

Is it just me .. or is it getting "Dusky " in here?

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×

Well, it is kind of sad overall, no? I understand what you may possibly mean about the paradigm one is using when considering it and doing it and growing from it etc, but it probably evokes negative feelings more often than not... no? Wouldn't it be best (in a utopian world, I know) that there would never be any unwanted pregnancies and there would be no need for such drastic measures?

Yes there is a stigma attached to abortion, there is also a stigma attached to keeping an unplanned pregnancy depending on the outside variables.

Women should not be ashamed of any of any of these choices but rather try to learn from them (all the different choices) and try to ever improve their lives and the lives of their families and the rest of society. But what I really want to say is that I only have compassion towards people and their pain and am interested in lessening it in the present moment as well as future. For me, personally, that means putting thought and energy into birth control, strengthening families, promoting self-confidence and independence for women, the family unit, education, etc. Wow, I better get busy!

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Hospice.

Wait a minute - how did I get to be a target here?

In my view, the original question was NOT whether abortion is right or wrong. The OP seemed quite clear about her values and it's not up to me to debate that with her.

I read the OP as asking for help in reconciling her values with her professional responsibilities.

How that translates as "catty" escapes me.

So far, those piling on here have offered no insight as to how it worked for them.

As to the statement that "pro-lifers" shouldn't work in OB, I'd still like to know when I wrote that. So far, crickets ...

The OP hasn't been back, so I guess the question is moot.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
Babylove2012 said:
Well, it is kind of sad overall, no? I understand what you may possibly mean about the paradigm one is using when considering it and doing it and growing from it etc, but it probably evokes negative feelings more often than not... no? Wouldn't it be best (in a utopian world, I know) that there would never be any unwanted pregnancies and there would be no need for such drastic measures?!

Of course, but we don't and never will live in a perfect world. So we need to look at the realities.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
heron said:
Wait a minute - how did I get to be a target here?

In my view, the original question was NOT whether abortion is right or wrong. The OP seemed quite clear about her values and it's not up to me to debate that with her.

I read the OP as asking for help in reconciling her values with her professional responsibilities.

How that translates as "catty" escapes me.

So far, those piling on here have offered no insight as to how it worked for them.

As to the statement that "pro-lifers" shouldn't work in OB, I'd still like to know when I wrote that. So far, crickets ...

The OP hasn't been back, so I guess the question is moot.

i think they may have been referring to my post, in response to why a person with those views would want to put themselves in a job that has issues they don't agree with...

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
heron said:
Snotty much?

I'm glad you worked OB with no conflict with your personal morals ... care to share how you did that?

I, and many of my coworkers, never participated in terminations where life was a possibility.

If a woman was making a choice to end a pregnancy that could be viable...there were nurses willing to take those cases.

Heck, we had residents that refused to have anything to do with any termination. Nobody questioned their role in OB.

I once took care of a woman who had already delivered. She chose to terminate her baby. She was ruptured with signs of infection and a couple weeks before viability. The residents on when I came on refused to care for her even though she was their patient...and the resident who did the termination left for the day. I got her after the delivery and had to beg to get her pain controlled and taken to the OR for possible retained placenta. I was able to get an attending to step in and take her care.

I've even cared for a woman who chose to terminate for a condition that would mean a shortened life expectancy. I didn't have any parts of the termination. I came on in time to take care of her just prior to delivery, delivery, and post partum. I had a patient who wanted nothing to do with the baby and left that morning knowing I helped her get to a point of being able too grieve, hold and name her baby...something she insisted she didn't want but then thanked me for helping her get there instead of listening to her words. I helped arrange a baptism for the baby with dad and the grandparents in a separate room....something that part of the family needed.

So yes a prolife individual can work OB and can do an amazing job even in cases where something happened we don't agree with. And we can avoid being the one to actually participate in the termination.

So yes, a prolife individual can easily work OB. Some will do it with tact and care and some will do it without.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CEN, CFRN, PHRN, RCIS, EMT-P.

god is not pro life

Hosea 9:11-16 Hosea prays for God's intervention. "Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer. Give them, 0 Lord: what wilt thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. . .Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb." Clearly Hosea desires that the people of Ephraim can no longer have children. God of course obeys by making all their unborn children miscarry. Is not terminating a pregnancy unnaturally "abortion"?

Numbers 5:11-21 The description of a bizarre, brutal and abusive ritual to be performed on a wife SUSPECTED of adultery. This is considered to be an induced abortion to rid a woman of another man's child.

Numbers 31:17 (Moses) "Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every women that hath known man by lying with him." In other words: women that might be pregnant, which clearly is abortion for the fetus.

Hosea 13:16 God promises to dash to pieces the infants of Samaria and the "their women with child shall be ripped up". Once again this god kills the unborn, including their pregnant mothers.

2 Kings 15:16 God allows the pregnant women of Tappuah (aka Tiphsah) to be "ripped open". And the Christians have the audacity to say god is pro-life. How and the hell is it that Christians can read passages where God allows pregnant women to be murdered, yet still claim abortion is wrong?

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
liberated847 said:
god is not pro life

Hosea 9:11-16 Hosea prays for God's intervention. "Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer. Give them, 0 Lord: what wilt thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. . .Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb." Clearly Hosea desires that the people of Ephraim can no longer have children. God of course obeys by making all their unborn children miscarry. Is not terminating a pregnancy unnaturally "abortion"?

Numbers 5:11-21 The description of a bizarre, brutal and abusive ritual to be performed on a wife SUSPECTED of adultery. This is considered to be an induced abortion to rid a woman of another man's child.

Numbers 31:17 (Moses) "Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every women that hath known man by lying with him." In other words: women that might be pregnant, which clearly is abortion for the fetus.

Hosea 13:16 God promises to dash to pieces the infants of Samaria and the "their women with child shall be ripped up". Once again this god kills the unborn, including their pregnant mothers.

2 Kings 15:16 God allows the pregnant women of Tappuah (aka Tiphsah) to be "ripped open". And the Christians have the audacity to say god is pro-life. How and the hell is it that Christians can read passages where God allows pregnant women to be murdered, yet still claim abortion is wrong?

There are people who are against abortion and not religious. Just saying...it isn't always about God. I haven't been inside a church in 4 years. I may never see the inside of a church again. My beliefs are not religious.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg and Neuro.
IrishIzRN said:
Well at least I point out that yes you can work OB while not okay with abortions.

Catty much?

You can be "pro-life" and work in OB if you can put your bias aside and give the patient whatever care she needs. The OP clearly is struggling with that, and should stay out of OB if she can't come to terms with the fact that not everyone shares her religious and ethical beliefs.

If you are so "pro life" that you are incapable of providing unbiased care, then you can't work in OB. There's a reason why I don't work for a christian employer or go to catholic hospitals: their bias will interfere with my medical needs.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment