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Nurses' Role
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"Interestingly, in an age where “ethical and professional cooperation seek to guide nurses in their decision making” (Clarke, 1999, p.42) the question of “whether to assist or withdraw from an abortion is by means the most common or even difficult ethical issue that nurses have to confront”(p.36).In view of this, the potential role of the nurse is to maintain both physical comfort, provide nonjudgmental, and supportive care is necessary when deciding to take a position in where abortion is performed.  The nurse is [then] responsible, legally and morally, for ensuring that patients’ needs are met and that patients are not neglected because of differing values (Curtin, 1982 as cited in Kerr & MacPhail ,1996, p.32-33).Unfortunately, in Marshal et al.’s article(1994), it indicates nurses involvement with TOP is extremely stressful (Char & McDermott, 1972; Hurwitz & Eadie, 1977; Allen, 1985, p.568) that participating in this emotionally charged procedure/situation can take a toll on their well-being, and can “potentially cause the nurses significant psychological trauma”(Huntington, 2002, p.274). As a result, research suggested “that women undergoing TOP do not always receive the supportive and non-judgmental care that they would like”(The Lane Committee, 1974, Clarke et al., 1983, as cited in Marshall, Gould & Roberts, 1994, p.567) because the nurses’ negative attitudes expressed either on a verbal or non-verbal level may discourage or turn away…women deciding to terminate their pregnancy (Marshall et al., 1994; Popoff, 1975). Sadly, enough it is the source of this stress that has been attributed to contradictions arising between nurses’ professional ethic to care for these women and their own personal values (Char & McDermott, 1972; Olson 1980; Nagle, 1988, p.568) thus leading these nurses’ in a state of moral dilemma. 
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Clarke, L. (1999). The person in abortion. Nursing Ethics, 6(1), 31-47. Huntington, A.D. (2002). Working with women experiencing mid-trimester termination of pregnancy: The integration of nursing and feminist knowledge in the gynecological setting. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 11(2), 273-280. Kerr, J.R. & MacPhail. (1996). Concepts in Canadian nursing. Edmonton, Alberta: Mosby. Marshall, S.L., Gould, D & Roberts, J. (1994). Nurses’ attitudes towards termination of pregnancy. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 20, 567-576. Popoff, D. (1975). What are your feelings about death and dying? Nursing 5(9), 55-62. |
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