Exploring Abortion: Cultural, Religious, and Legal Considerations

This essay delves into the complex and often contentious topic of abortion, examining its multifaceted dimensions from cultural, religious, and legal perspectives. The introduction highlights the lack of federal legislation in Australia, leaving the regulation of abortion to individual states, while also acknowledging the strong influence of personal religious and moral beliefs. The essay explores the religious perspectives, primarily focusing on Christianity and other religions, and their stances on abortion, often viewing it as the termination of life, and the ethical challenges this poses for healthcare professionals. The legal section clarifies that abortion is a right in Australia, and the role of nurses and doctors in providing abortion care, irrespective of personal beliefs, is emphasized. The essay further explores cultural and ethical perspectives, highlighting the importance of respecting cultural diversity, upholding professional values, and the significance of informed consent in healthcare practices. The conclusion reiterates the critical role of the informed consent process in patient care, allowing patients to make their own choices, and the need for nurses to empathize and utilize their skills in accordance with patient requests. The essay cites relevant academic sources to support its arguments.

Inquiry into
professional practice
Cultural and religious beliefs regarding abortion

Introduction
• Abortion remains a hotly contested topic most especially because of its cultural, legal
and ethical considerations. The Australian federal government does not have legal
provisions on abortion. Therefore, the legislation on abortion is defined by the states.
• People however stick to their religious and moral beliefs regarding the topic of
abortion. The general consensus about the public is that abortion is immoral and
irreligious and should only be permitted on certain circumstances otherwise dictated
by moral prejudice and beliefs.
• Abortion however is permitted within states and it sis estimated that there are about
74000 abortions in Australia annually despite cultural and religious constraints.
• Doctors and nurses are allowed to perform an abortion based on the mother's
requests with due regard to law, professional standards of practice and ethical
standards of practice.

Religious perspective
• Majority of people in Australia belong to various religious affiliations. There is a
great percentage of people who belong to Christianity and there is also a great
number of people who don’t subscribe to any religion whatsoever. Other religions
such as Islam and Buddhism only have a small proportion of the population. The
extent to which people conform to religious doctrines is relative however, about
30 percent of people have a staunch belief in their religion.
• For many religions, abortion is prohibited and it is termed as willful termination of
a child's life which is equated to murder. Life is believed to start at conception and
not at birth (Benson, 2018).
• Various controversies however remain unanswered especially regarding conditions
on when it should be permitted such as when a mother’s life is in danger.

Religious perspective continuation
• Religious faith is quite compelling especially when a nurse or a doctor is being
compelled to perform something that is against their beliefs. It is however
important that nurses and doctors are able to separate their beliefs from the
profession.
• According to the professional standards of practice, nurses are required to
establish professional relationships with their clients and to offer client centered
care. This therefore helps to put the client’s values above personal values in the
practice.
• In addition, religious teachings emphasize on justice and equality. In this respect.
The main value to attach to argue out that no religion is superior that the other
and it amounts to justice to treat somebody according to the dictates of their own
religious affiliation without trying to impose one’s beliefs and values on others.

Legal perspective
• Nurses are supposed to provide abortion care to parents wishing to perform an abortion even if it
is inconsistent with their cultural and religious beliefs.
• The fact that abortion is permitted by the law means that abortion is a right to anyone wishing to
procure one. The doctors therefore have no moral or ethical obligation to decide whether to grant
or not to grant someone constitutional rights.
• There exists a paradox as to whose right matters more but the law makes it clear that abortion is
only considered a crime if the child is capable of being born alive.
• In addition, the hospitals and regulatory bodies have policy frameworks regarding how such
dilemmas should be handled. One such policy document is the professional code of ethics which
contains ethical standards such as autonomy, beneficence, non maleficence and justice.
Beneficence focuses on the common good to the patient.
• Doctors and nurses are also required to stick to the rules and policies of the hospital institution
since failure to accord a justifiable service amounts to negligence and it is punishable in a court of
law to both the offender and the hospital institution (Oman, & Brown, 2018).

Cultural and ethical perspective
• While it may be hard to perform an abortion that is inconsistent with one’s cultural beliefs, nurses
are highly urged to uphold professional values of practice.
• One of the most important thing that nurses and doctors need to understand is that there is no
objective morality. In other words, a moral claim can only be justified depending on the position that
one uses to look into the claim. It would therefore be unethical to dismiss one’s moral judgment
without getting to understand their disposition (Arousell, & Carlbom, 2016).
• Culturally, abortion is also regarded a taboo and characterized with stigma and disdain. It is generally
regarded as morally wrong. However, societies have moral grounds that justify abortion just as the
government which include instances of rape, poverty levels, age and health related issues.
• In the nursing professional values, nurses are urged to respect cultural diversity. Respect of cultural
diversity allows nurses to respect and tolerate other cultures. This increases understanding and
enhances the quality of care.
• In the professional code of ethics, nurses are also urged to uphold respect for autonomy. This
requires of nurses to always allow the patient to have autonomy over their lives.

Conclusion
• In conclusion, it is important to highlight that the informed consent
process should be strictly followed in handling of patients.
• The informed consent process requires of nurses to inform patients
and leave them to make their choices. Nurses are supposed to work
upon the patients requests even if they make the wrong decision.
• In addition, nurses should also empathize with the clients and use
their knowledge and skills upon which client’s request to procure and
abortion.

References
• Arousell, J., & Carlbom, A. (2016). Culture and religious beliefs in
relation to reproductive health. Best Practice & Research Clinical
Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 32, 77-87.
• Benson, I. T. (2018). Religious liberty in Australia: Some suggestions
and proposals for reframing traditional categorisations. Zadok
Perspectives, 139.
• Oman, D., & Brown, T. T. (2018). Health Policy and Management,
Religion, and Spirituality. In Why Religion and Spirituality Matter for
Public Health (pp. 191-210). Springer, Cham.