isabella caen - MED 320 draft paper submission
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School
Arizona State University *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
320
Subject
Philosophy
Date
Feb 20, 2024
Type
Pages
4
Uploaded by MateDiscoveryApe31
●
Introduction. (~1 page)
In the article,
A woman who sued Texas for access to abortion seeks a procedure out of
state instead
, the ethical dilemmas involved in abortion rights are discussed, including ethical
principles such as autonomy and nonmaleficence. In this article, 31 year old, pregnant, texan
Kate Cox details her experiences with being denied a safe and legal abortion in the state of
Texas, which she was seeking out due to the fact that she was having complications. She went on
to sue the state of Texas over this and left the state in pursuit of this procedure.
For many years now here in the United States, abortion has been a legal, medical
procedure due to Roe V. Wade. Recently in 2022, this law was overturned, outlawing safe and
legal abortions in many states. Quite a few states, such as Texas, have taken the overturning quite
seriously and have enacted other harsh, follow-up laws in order to assign more consequences to
seeking out these now banned abortions. Some of these laws include holding persons and doctors
in the state of Texas who aid in the procedure of abortions as legally responsible for these
“crimes.” Texas has very limited exceptions to these new laws, and Kate’s case sparks a large
conversation about how the state will handle seeking legal action in regards to this and how these
laws are going to be enforced. There are groups on both sides of the abortion debate, Pro-life and
Pro-choice, and it’s unlikely these two sides will ever see eye to eye or reach a common ground.
A lot of the disagreements stem from places of religious beliefs, which can be very polarizing.
1.
Discuss other examples (~2 pages)
In situations such as these, there are many factors that might cause an individual or
organization to participate in giving abortions, even if it is unethical/illegal. Overall, one has to
wonder, does something being illegal inherently make it unethical? Or are there perhaps gray
areas at times, especially when you are to consider the humanity of the situation.
The ethical principles that surround the abortion issue are autonomy and nonmaleficence.
Pro-choice politics surround the autonomous right for women to have the ultimate right over
their body. Pro-life politics surround the ethical principle of non-maleficence meaning the
physician must do no harm, thus the physician cannot abort an unborn child.
Technically, in the eyes of the National Institute of Health and the AMA, abortion is
unethical when considered against the principle of nonmaleficence. In the assigned news article
it states that “Texas doctors can legally provide abortions in the state only if a patient is "in
danger of death or a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function," the law
says.” (4) The laws in Texas following the reversal of Roe v Wade detailed that exceptions were
only granted in circumstances where “the patient is in danger of death or a serious risk of
substantial impairment of a major bodily function,"(5) Since Dr. Darma could not explicitly
argue to the courts that Kate’s medical prognosis should reflect an exception to the new laws,
technically she did act unethically.
On the other hand, under circumstances where abortion is illegal, and yet you are
required to act in your patients best interest, could you then argue it’s almost unethical to not act
in the patient's best interest and terminate the pregnancy, as in Kate's case? These, and many
others, are the reasons for why there are exceptions to every case. When you are left to make the
decision of child versus mother, ethics are also called into question. In what circumstances does
the child's life outweigh the mothers? In the assigned article, Dr. Karsan explains that "while
there are serious concerns with her baby's health, there are also serious concerns with her own
health and you cannot tease those apart – they are inextricably intertwined." (5) The ethical
dilemma that surrounds the abortion issue sparks arguments regarding whether or not women
have the ultimate right to their own body, hence the ethical principle of autonomy, or if the
unborn child has the right to live.
The assigned article also goes on to say “that doctors, not judges should be deciding
whether the exception applies.” (5) In Kate’s case, it was unethical that an Attorney General was
weighing in on medical decisions. Granted he has a duty to uphold laws and do his job, but Kate
had the medical backing of a physician, Dr. Damla Karsan, who had reviewed her medical charts
previously and had determined the abortion to be medically acceptable. Kate’s autonomy is being
violated here. The courts also determined her case held more validity due to the possibility of
rendering her infertile following this pregnancy if she were to see it through.
2.
Stakeholders (~1 pages)
There are many stakeholders in this debate and many people affected by these ethical
decisions. Those stakeholders include people such as: parents, mothers, people who might be
seeking out abortions, physicians, nurses, hospitals (as we see in Kate Cox’s case, especially),
health advocacy groups, suppliers of abortion medications, law makers, and legislators.
3.
Conclusion (~ 1/2 page)
My final thoughts on this topic are as follows: the ethical debate around abortion and dealing
with ethical principles such as autonomy and nonmaleficence in regards to abortion rights is a
huge topic and can not be easily resolved. As long as factors such as religion and
personal/societal biases are involved in the matter, this will forever be an ongoing topic of
discussion among healthcare providers, citizens and law makers alike.
4.
References
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Textbook
1.Abortion | ama-coe. code-medical-ethics.ama-assn.org.
https://code-medical-ethics.ama-assn.org/ethics-opinions/abortion
2.Fromer MJ. Abortion ethics.
Nursing Outlook
. 2018;30(4):234-240.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7041095/
3 .McPhillips D. Uncertainty around US abortion landscape drives surge in requests to stockpile
abortion medication, research shows. CNN. Published January 3, 2024.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/02/health/medication-abortion-stockpile/index.html
4.Morrison EE, Furlong B.
Health Care Ethics: Critical Issues for the 21st Century
. 4th ed.
Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2019.
5.Simmons-Duffin S. Texas woman who sued state for abortion travels out of state for procedure
instead. NPR. Published December 11, 2023.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/12/11/1218625460/texas-woman-who-sued-state-
for-abortion-travels-out-of-state-for-procedure-inste