Pro Life Beliefs and Nursing

[Tuzla99]

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.

[NurseCard, ADN]

Are you worried that you will encounter a patient that has had an abortion?

Because it is very unlikely unless you plan on working on an obstretrics

unit and even then I'm not sure that it is likely you will encounter someone

who has had an elective abortion.

[Emergent, RN]

Non issue in my nursing career. I'm basically antiabortion, but not totally rigid or an ideologue on the subject. In almost 25 years of nursing I've never been challenged to compromise my morals on the subject.

[Sour Lemon]

Are you worried that you will encounter a patient that has had an abortion?

Because it is very unlikely unless you plan on working on an obstretrics

unit and even then I'm not sure that it is likely you will encounter someone

who has had an elective abortion.

I've had a few in med/surg. Sometimes there's retained tissue after an initial elective abortion and they're admitted for D&C. It's a done deal at that point, though. We are not participants in the ending of the life, just providing aftercare. It is somewhat rare. I could count those patients on one hand over an eight year period.

[djksjdalksjf]

Here's the thing, you can't look at someone and know they've had an abortion, and even if you could, you can't put yourself in their shoes to really know why. No one gets an abortion for fun.

If you wouldn't let it affect your care giving, then what's the problem? Lots of people have lots of beliefs. As a democrat, I worked as a CNA and cared for people who worship the current president. I didn't care for them any differently.

[NurseCard, ADN]

I also wanted to say to the OP, after I posted.. you never know when

you will encounter someone who has had an abortion and perhaps

wants to talk about it. It could be a 20 year old woman who has presented

to the ER with abdominal pain and admits that she is suicidal because

she had an abortion and now regrets it.

[klone, MSN, RN]

I'm pro-abortion. Don't work in OB or women's health or public health. You'll probably be fine.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

You will likely never directly deal with a woman undergoing or recovering from an elective abortion. For one thing, 94% of such procedures occur in a clinic specific to that kind of care.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1363/46e0414

Also, abortions are safer than ever so it is highly unlikely you will deal with a woman experiencing a complication unless the procedure is made illegal, in which case such cases will sky-rocket. Also, elective abortions are decreasing year over year as better contraception increases.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1363/psrh.12015

Also, if you encounter a woman experiencing a mental health crisis after an abortion, there is no evidence to support that the crisis is related to the elective termination as these women often have many confounding factors such as poverty, lack of access to any kind of care (including mental health) and abusive and controlling situations. In fact, the evidence supports that while in the long term both groups have equivalent mental health outcomes, in the short run, denial of full women's services causes more mental distress:

]4

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

Also, if you encounter a woman experiencing a mental health crisis after an abortion, there is no evidence to support that the crisis is related to the elective termination as these women often have many confounding factors such as poverty, lack of access to any kind of care (including mental health) and abusive and controlling situations. In fact, the evidence supports that while in the long term both groups have equivalent mental health outcomes, in the short run, denial of full women's services causes more mental distress:

]44 Error

Sorry that last article didn't load:

Women’s Mental Health and Well-being 5 Years After Receiving or Being Denied an Abortion: A Prospective, Longitudinal Cohort Study | Anxiety Disorders | JAMA Psychiatry | JAMA Network

[NurseCard, ADN]

Wow.

Okay, I'm not going to get into a debate...

I only wanted to point out to the OP that he may have to take care of

someone who presents with a different problem, and decides to bring up

the subject of her recent abortion, and wants to talk about it. Then, how

will the OP deal with that?

That's all. That's it. Whew.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

I have been an RN for 30 years, all hospital nursing, and have never had to participate in an abortion. If someone has had an abortion, that subject never comes up. We don't even discuss it at all. That said, I don't work OB/GYN. I really don't think this is something you should be concerned about at this point in your career.

[PeakRN]

I'm pro-life, but I'm there to care for the patient. I will never recommend an elective abortion nor participate in one, but that is exceeding rare outside of a very small number of specialties. While I would personally far prefer care by providing birth control and ensuring that parents have adequate resources so that keeping their baby is a easier choice, I do not get to choose how our health system exists or make decisions for others. I wouldn't be surprised if someone comment on my beliefs and being a man, but I also think that fathers should be involved and have more responsibility than many do.

We certainly get quite a few patients from sexual health/abortion clinics into the ED who either were not completely informed of the risks and side effects of abortions or are having complications and need treatment. Life threatening hemorrhage or infections are also not unheard of.

I do not have any problem caring for these patients, they are sick and need our help. I don't judge their decisions, the reality is that they have already chosen that. It is also not my place ethically or morally to judge them and I condemn any nurse that does. I don't have a problem with providing medications for eptopics or participating in care of those who medically need abortions, these are not viable in my view and don't cross that ethical/moral boundary.

If you are really worried about being involved in elective abortions I would suggest working in a catholic or similar hospital, they tend to have very strong policies around this.