Question

Kate is a 17 years old patient, unmarried and 8 weeks pregnant. She is a rather remarkable girl in that she lives independently while still a senior in a high school. She tells you that she was an adoptee given back to foster care, and then abused in that system. She is now an emancipated minor who works 30 hours per week at a service industry job while also earning a 4.0 GPA in school, ranking in the top 10% of her class. She is college-bound, with a full-ride scholarship for pre-med undergraduate studies at a prestigious university. ?Kate has absolutely no family support, and the former boyfriend who is the father of her unborn child/fetus simply disappeared upon learning of the pregnancy. Your patient is scared, uninsured, and says she doesn’t want to be pregnant or a mom (“Perhaps someday, but not now!”). She rejects the adoption option, based on her own experience growing up, and requests abortion only, at this hospital where she has always received medical care.”

Questions for discussion ?1. Your faith-based health care system rejects elective abortion option. What ought to be done for Kate? And by whom?

Answer 1

I think that she is a tough situation at the moment and not use perception of saying what she should have or have not done certain things which is not helpful during this crisis. Having an abortion is the option that she chosen to take because she has so much going in her life and being a mother is not one of them without a support network. She has other options unfortunately chooses not to consider them. In this case, there is abortion, adoption, or keeping the baby. Another thing, she can keep the baby and at the end realize that she made the biggest decision of her life, because it is nothing like being a parent. You can love your spouse, parents, brothers, and neighbors but a person can never love someone the way they love their child. According to the Guttmacher Institute (2017), under Georgia law, she must receive state-directed counseling. This would relieve me of any moral, ethical, or legal issues I may face from “forcing” a patient into a treatment that they have explicitly expressed they do not want. So I can first refer Sarah to an abortion counselor because abortion counseling covers issues such as the decision-making process, discussion of techniques, full disclosure of risks involved, and other necessary things to make sure that Sarah is making the best and decision for herself (Casey, 2016). At Sarah’s request, I could forward any necessary medical records to the physician or licensed provider that she decides to see instead.

References:

Casey MD, MPH, Frances E. 2016, February 29. “Elective Abortion Treatment & Management”. Medscape.

Retrieved from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/252560-treatment.

Guttmacher Institute. 2017 July. “State Facts About Abortion: Georgia”.

Retrieved from https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/state-facts-about-abortion-georgia.1