I am feeling very conflicted about making a decision in the near future about this, and I would appreciate reliable and honest advice. I am finishing a very difficult 5 year degree, and have wanted a job in healthcare for a long time. I still want to pursue a career part time in what i am studying, which is to be a band and music teacher, and am considering going to nursing school part time during the year and taking summer courses while i teach. I think nursing would be a very rewarding profession, and I think that I would be very happy to be a nurse. I do feel a calling toward a job in the medical field, and I am still young, I am 23 years old, and I feel that if I am going to devote so much more energy, time, and money into a second career I need to decide now.
With everything going on in the United States ( I live in Canada), I am extremely concerned about whether I would actually be able to work as a nurse by the time I graduate or not. I am unapollogetically pro-life, and would never have anything to do with abortion whatsoever. This to me even includes post abortion care. How much trouble will I have? It seems that every hospital that is not a Catholic hospital runs into this situation. I have friends in nursing that tell me that you would jsut work in a different branch of the hospital but then I hear stories about nurses still having to walk away from certain situations having to do with abortion. I would actually really like to work in Cosmetic surgery, but I am not sure how the job market is out there for that. I feel something telling me I should go ahead with it because this is something that I feel I really may be meant to do in my life,, but I will NOT participate in anything to do with abortion ever. My husband has a good career here in Canada, so the chacnes of us moving to another country are slimto none until retirement,
I do not want to start up a debate, I am just an exhausted student who is trying to make a really big decision and is increadibly overwhelmed at what i should do. I really appreciate your responses!
Depending on what OR you work in, you may have exposure to terminations. In my last facility, often we'd get patients who had used the pill method of termination and the process didn't complete so they needed a procedure to remedy this. We did D&E's mostly in cases of fetal death, but can I guarantee that some doctor somewhere didn't slip in an elective one ? Probably not.
At any rate, if you work in an OR that does everything, you'll probably run into an issue somewhere. Now, a surgi-center might be OK.
Well I think that firstly one of the most important things about nursing is that you have to put aside your person feelings, and care for the patient, that is your primary responsibility period. And I guarentee that will not be the only moral conflict you will have with patients, because you will deal with all different types of people from incredibily diverse backgrounds. And you have to know your place, which as a nurse is never to judge. That is my stance. I would suggest not working in an area that would put you into that position. I mean, not likely to face that problem in med/surg, tele, ICU, non-OB dr office, etc. I mean you can always tell your superviser if you feel there is a patient you are not comfortable with. If it is what you feel you are being called to do, go for it!
Amen to the last post. You put into words what I was going to comment. How can you want to be a nurse when you think it is okay to judge whom should receive your care. Did not Jesus help the prostitutes, poor, lepers, and criminals?
I agree with what you are saying. However, I would like some clarification from the OP regarding exactly what she meant about being "100% pro-life". At this juncture, we don't know if she is saying she would only be uncomfortable participating in an elective abortion or if indeed she would object to taking care of a woman with post-abortion complications or who had an abortion in the past. I think it's good for nurses to discuss these issues, to help us understand the perspectives of those with whom we might disagree. But I hope we're not getting into accusing the OP of being judgmental simply because she has stated that she is pro-life.
I also don't see that she is accusing women who have abortions of being sinful or immoral but that she is stating her own convictions that caring for someone who was having an abortion (or who had just had an elective abortion) would violate her beliefs. Again, I hope she clarifies her post and lets us know what she means by post-abortion care. The implications are far different if she simply would not want to be the PAR nurse for a woman who just had an elective abortion than if she's saying that she would refuse to take care of a woman who suffered complications from an abortion.
There are also many judgmental nurses who don't have issues with abortion; look at how many disparage certain patients as being "drug seekers", "fat pigs" or other labels. How many don't want to work with patients from certain ethnic groups or people with differing lifestyles? I believe that nurses should check their personal prejudices at the door and give every single patient the best care that they can.
So, could you be like the nurse I had when she was trying to get an IV in me and wouldn't stop when I told her it hurt like hell? I might have been bugging her by requiring her service, but I suspect she was bugged because I was in the hospital for a D&C. Apparently she didn't get the memo that the baby had died 9 days prior and I needed it done for what appeared to be an infection. Don't be like her.
I am feeling very conflicted about making a decision in the near future about this, and I would appreciate reliable and honest advice. I am finishing a very difficult 5 year degree, and have wanted a job in healthcare for a long time. I still want to pursue a career part time in what i am studying, which is to be a band and music teacher, and am considering going to nursing school part time during the year and taking summer courses while i teach. I think nursing would be a very rewarding profession, and I think that I would be very happy to be a nurse. I do feel a calling toward a job in the medical field, and I am still young, I am 23 years old, and I feel that if I am going to devote so much more energy, time, and money into a second career I need to decide now.
With everything going on in the United States ( I live in Canada), I am extremely concerned about whether I would actually be able to work as a nurse by the time I graduate or not. I am unapollogetically pro-life, and would never have anything to do with abortion whatsoever. This to me even includes post abortion care. How much trouble will I have? It seems that every hospital that is not a Catholic hospital runs into this situation. I have friends in nursing that tell me that you would jsut work in a different branch of the hospital but then I hear stories about nurses still having to walk away from certain situations having to do with abortion. I would actually really like to work in Cosmetic surgery, but I am not sure how the job market is out there for that. I feel something telling me I should go ahead with it because this is something that I feel I really may be meant to do in my life,, but I will NOT participate in anything to do with abortion ever. My husband has a good career here in Canada, so the chacnes of us moving to another country are slimto none until retirement,
I do not want to start up a debate, I am just an exhausted student who is trying to make a really big decision and is increadibly overwhelmed at what i should do. I really appreciate your responses!
Thank you so much,
As long as you don't work in an OB-GYN clinic or labor and delivery, you should be fine.
I wouldn't mention it to your instructors at clinicals unless you are asked to participate in one, which I can tell you now, isn't going to happen in nursing school.
My advice is to not pick ER to work in either.
You may be pro-life, but nurses CANNOT legally refuse care to a patient post-abortion.
That means if you were an ER nurse and a woman had an abortion the day before, and then suddenly needs care and has to come to the ER for treatment, you cannot judge her by refusing care...the same way you cannot refuse to treat someone who is an alcoholic, drug addict, sex offenders, rapists, patients that the police bring in that were injured or shot during an arrest.
We don't have the right to pass judgment on our patients when they are admitted. If they need care, you have to provide it if they are assigned to you.
So, could you be like the nurse I had when she was trying to get an IV in me and wouldn't stop when I told her it hurt like hell? I might have been bugging her by requiring her service, but I suspect she was bugged because I was in the hospital for a D&C. Apparently she didn't get the memo that the baby had died 9 days prior and I needed it done for what appeared to be an infection. Don't be like her.
I am sorry that happened to you and I am very sorry about your miscarriage. I had a D & C after total fetal demise in a Catholic hospital and was treated very well. I had cramps and bleeding for several days but when the blood tests showed a sharp decline in the levels of hCG within five days, so the doc suggested a D & C.
Is it possible that the nurse who was inconsiderate and unable to get in your IV painlessly would have been just as bad no matter what procedure you'd had done? Maybe she just wasn't very good with starting IVs. (At least, that is my hope...)
Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.
i do not think many pro-lifers, including you from what you have written, are 100% prolife. somewhat pro-life but not 100% pro-life. for example, killing off abortion clinic doctors to the pro-life movement is ok, death penalty is ok with them, and allowing women who have abortions to die from complications is ok too... of course it is your choice where you work as a rn, but it does not mean that you are 100% pro-life.
in reference to abortions, as a nurse you can choose not to work in an or environment or clinic environment that performs abortions. this is easy to do. however, if you do not wish to assist with those having complications from abortions or anyone who has a history of abortions, or those who have taken a life of another, then you will need to stay out of medical surgical nursing, women's, the or, ob, home health, public health, jail, the military, er, icu,... etc. because working with any adult patient will put you in touch with patients who may have taken the life of another and may be having complications of some sort procedure or conflict (i am thinking of those that come to the er after drunk driving who killed off an entire family but they are alive and in need of assistance from a nurse). in fact, the only place i can foresee that will prevent you from working with people that have taken the life of another is the nicu because even pediatrics nurses work with adolescents and children that may have harmed and/or killed another.
i do not think many pro-lifers, including you from what you have written, are 100% prolife. somewhat pro-life but not 100% pro-life. for example, killing off abortion clinic doctors to the pro-life movement is ok, death penalty is ok with them, and allowing women who have abortions to die from complications is ok too… of course it is your choice where you work as a rn, but it does not mean that you are 100% pro-life.
please don't generalize. that is a ridiculous statement. any thinking person is appalled at the murders of abortion providers, whatever their thoughts about abortion may be. as for the death penalty, that has nothing to do with abortion. i could just as easily ask you to justify why you'd be pro-abortion but anti-capital punishment, but that would be just as in-your-face as your comments and would not facilitate any meaningful discussion. none of that does anything to help the op and hijacks the thread.
to the op, i am pro-life. i would never participate in an elective abortion procedure and so have no intentions to work in er or ob, etc. if at some point in the future for whatever reason it costs me a job, oh well -- i still have to live with myself. but i would never refuse to care for a patient with complications related to an abortion. what's done is done, and as many have said before me, as nurses (i am a second-year rn student), we have to put aside our personal feelings about what someone has done in the past and care for them in the present.
i do not think many pro-lifers, including you from what you have written, are 100% prolife. somewhat pro-life but not 100% pro-life. for example, killing off abortion clinic doctors to the pro-life movement is ok, death penalty is ok with them, and allowing women who have abortions to die from complications is ok too...
interesting sweeping generalization, and a rather myopic view of the concept. most of us pro-lifers are against murder (to include abortion doctors.) nor do i consider myself part of any "movement." let alone any movement that advocates violence. in addition, i am not an advocate for the death penalty. (killing for defense/self preservation, another story.) additionally, i do not believe in letting people who have had abortions die.
i'll go back to my hard line, conservative, hate teaching church compound now...
OP, you do not have the right attitude to go into health care, period. You are clearly ideological to a fault, and this will get you into a lot of trouble working with patients. Even if the abortion issue never comes up (and it will, at some point and in some capacity however small) there will also be many other issues with which you do not agree. As a nurse or any health practitioner, you will have to set those aside and take care of your patients, entirely regardless of whatever your personal beliefs.
Those who object to this mindset do not belong in health care, and that is the bottom line. We didn't get into this field to make ourselves feel justified in our personal beliefs. We are here to help our patients, end of story. If you cannot do that because of a personal conflict or interest of beliefs, then you have compromised the ability of some patients to receive optimal care.
I realize this won't be a popular opinion around here, but it is what I was taught by some very strong and capable nurses, and what I have seen to be true over and over again.
Don't make your patients suffer, because you choose to punish them for their personal decisions.
edit: and also to those in this thread who use phrases like "pro-abortion"...please refrain from doing that. Literally no one on earth is "pro-abortion". Thank you.
The rights of health care workers to refuse to participate in abortions have been protected by numerous federal laws for decades. Those protections remain in effect. The last-minute Bush "Provider Refusal Rule" wasn't about changing those protections but about furthering the antiabortion agenda by bullying hospitals.
What the Bush rule would have done was cut off federal funding for state and local governments, hospitals and other entites if they failed to accommodate any worker -- any worker whatsoever, including janitors -- who refused to participate in care based on personal, moral or religious beliefs. "Participation" would have included providing information or advice on contraception, abortion, blood transfusions and even vaccinations. It's one thing to decline to participate in a procedure, but deliberately keeping information from a patient about options is beyond the pale.
of course it is your choice where you work as a rn, but it does not mean that you are 100% pro-life. 
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GadgetRN71, ASN, RN
1,841 Posts
Depending on what OR you work in, you may have exposure to terminations. In my last facility, often we'd get patients who had used the pill method of termination and the process didn't complete so they needed a procedure to remedy this. We did D&E's mostly in cases of fetal death, but can I guarantee that some doctor somewhere didn't slip in an elective one ? Probably not.
At any rate, if you work in an OR that does everything, you'll probably run into an issue somewhere. Now, a surgi-center might be OK.