Health Care Ethics

(Bioethics)

Module #12 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date: ________________

Lesson Title: Reproductive Issues Materials:

Learning Targets:
At the end of the module, students will be able to:
1. Outline the distinction between “human” and “person,” and
the dispute regarding personhood criteria;
2. Describe the distinction between the quality of life and life
itself;
3. List the basic facts of fetal development; and,
4. Understand the religious arguments against abortion
Pen, paper, index card, book, and class List
References:
Ethics of Health Care: A Guide for Clinical
Practice Fourth Edition, Raymond S. Edge, J.
Randall Groves

A. LESSON PREVIEW/REVIEW

Brain Teaser: Students will be asked to answer the following questions.

What is culture shock and what is the effect of this in providing health care? Explain your answer.

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B. MAIN LESSON

The Abortion Issue

 Abortion statistics
– More than half of American women receiving abortions are in their 20s
– 17 percent of all U.S. abortions are teenagers
– 60 percent of women already have a child
– 37 percent have two or more children
– No racial or ethnic group makes up a majority of women having abortions
– 70 percent of women reported religious affiliation
– 40 percent of women with family incomes below federal poverty level
– 10 percent occur in second trimester
– 90 percent in first twelve weeks of pregnancy
– 60 percent occur in first eight weeks
 Abortion is a very common experience for women
 2012: 1.31 million abortions in United States
 Reasons diverse and complex
 Experience of abortion real, immediate, personal
 Americans evenly divided between pro-choice/pro-life positions

 Pro-choice advocates favor intact dilation and evacuation

 Pro-life advocates use term partial birth abortion
 Fewer than a thousand third-trimester abortions performed each year

The Legal Debate

1973: In Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court, legalized a woman’s right to have an abortion

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 Health Care Ethics
(Bioethics)

Module #12 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date: ________________

 Right not considered to be unrestricted

 Balanced the interests of the woman and the state
 Term person used only postnatally
 28th week: allowed state to shift to protection of fetus

1976: Danforth v. Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri

 Statutory provision required a woman to receive her husband’s, or if a minor, her parent’s or guardian’s, permission
prior to having abortion
 Court held requirements were unconstitutional

1976: Hyde amendment restricted availability of Medicare funding for abortions

 Modified to allow funding in which mother’s life threatened by carrying fetus full term or in cases of incest or rape
 It does primarily affect poor women

Webster v. Reproductive Health Services

Court held that a state could ban public employees and public health facilities from performing or assisting in performing
nontherapeutic abortions
 State legislatures in Northeast and West Coast have consistently supported abortion rights
 Legislatures in a number of states have passed restrictive laws designed to stop or slow process
 Main framework of Roe v. Wade still in place and is the law of the land

The Moral Issues

 Personhood
 Sanctity of life
 Quality of life
 Autonomy
 Mercy
 Freedom
 Social stability

The Two Positions

 Pro-life: anti-abortion, believes abortion is murder and should be stopped
 Pro-choice: believes decision to abort is one of personal liberty and should be legal

Sanctity of Life Argument

 Fetus is a live human
 Killing him or her is wrong
 Allow for a few exceptions
 Human life sacred on basis of divine mandate, unalienable natural or human rights, or common collective decision
 Genetic code argument

The Facts of Fetal Development

 Conceptus: union of sperm and egg
 Zygote: full genetic code will determine sex, hair color, skin color, and other attributes
 Embryo: zygote settles into uterine wall
 8 weeks: entity is a fetus
 Second trimester: fetus will have begun to move (quickening)

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 Health Care Ethics
(Bioethics)

Module #12 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date: ________________

 5th month: neurologically, fetus can feel pain

 6th month: fetus period of potential viability
 Third trimester: fetus develops minimal consciousness
 Birth occurs after nine months
 Infant completely dependent on mother

Killing and Self-Defense

 If someone is about to kill you, and the only way to save yourself is to kill the other person first, then killing is
permissible
 Doctrine of double effect: distinguish intended effect of an action from other, unintended effects

“Human” or “Person”?
Traits Central to Personhood
 Member of the moral community
 Consciousness of objects and events
 Ability to feel pain
 Reasoning
 Self-motivated activity
 Capacity to communicate
 Concept of the self

The Viability Argument

 Viability: characteristic of biological independence
 Some argue a fetus has standing only when it becomes viable outside the mother
 Some philosophers believe there is more to the abortion question than the issue of personhood

Method of Analogical Thought Experiments

 The Violinist Analogy
 The Rapidly Growing Child Analogy
 The Carpet-Seed Children Analogy

Women’s Liberty and the Priority of Life Plan

 Pro-choice: crucial a woman have control over her life plan in the way a man has control
 Pro-life: root of abortion problem is modern attitude toward sex
 Differing ideas concerning sexuality, one’s religious beliefs, or deeply held moral beliefs
 Pro-choice: crucial a woman have control over her life plan in the way a man has control
 Pro-life: root of abortion problem is modern attitude toward sex
 Differing ideas concerning sexuality, one’s religious beliefs, or deeply held moral beliefs
 Pro-life theorist:
 Will see the social problem as another manifestation of rampant immorality of modern age
 Considers element of autonomy in reproduction a matter of “convenience” than a life plan

Traditionalism vs. Modernism

Pro-life Activists
 Tend to be more traditional and religious
 Sex should be reserved for marriage

Pro-choice Activists
 Tend to be less traditional and religious

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 Health Care Ethics
(Bioethics)

Module #12 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date: ________________

 More career oriented with higher incomes

 Sex is a natural expression of oneself

Abortion and the Freedom of Religion

Pro-life Theorists
 Reject the idea their views on abortion are the result of their religious views
 They are result of basic moral reasoning
 Freedom of religion is not absolute

Pro-choice Theorists
 Reflect one’s most deeply held beliefs
 Even if views are not religious in the partisan sense, they are equally profound
 Best solution: tolerance

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

You will answer and rationalize this by yourself. This will be recorded as your quiz. One (1) point will be given to correct
answer and another one (1) point for the correct ratio. Superimpositions or erasures in you answer/ratio is not allowed.

1. The position that abortion is murder and must be stopped is known as the position.
A. Sanctity of life
B. Viability
C. Pro-life
D. None of the above
Answer: ________
Rationale:________________________________________________________________________________________
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2. This is a widely accepted exception to the “thou shalt not kill” proscription.
A. Self defense
B. Abortion
C. Mercy Killing
D. All of the above
Answer: ________
Rationale:________________________________________________________________________________________
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3. This term is when the fetus begins to move, and the mother will be able to sense the movement at a point?
A. Conception
B. Quickening
C. `Viability
D. Conceptus
Answer: ________
Rationale:________________________________________________________________________________________
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4. Which of the following is NOT included in the list of traits central to personhood?
A. Reasoning
B. The ability to manage stress

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 Health Care Ethics
(Bioethics)

Module #12 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date: ________________

C. The ability to feel pain

D. A concept of the self
Answer: ________
Rationale:________________________________________________________________________________________
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5. Judith Thomson uses the method of analogical thought of experiment because she believes there is more to the
abortion question than issue of personhood. One of her analogy talks about faulty contraception which is?
A. Viability argument
B. The Violinist Analogy
C. The Rapidly Growing Analogy
D. The Carpet-Seed Analogy
Answer: ________
Rationale:________________________________________________________________________________________
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6. They are known as the conservative traditionalist?

A. Pro-life activist
B. Pro-life theorist
C. Pro-choice activist
D. Pro-choice theorist
Answer: ________
Rationale:________________________________________________________________________________________
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7. In the 1973 case, the Supreme Court of the United States, relying on the constitutional right of privacy, legalized a
woman’s right to have an abortion 1983
A. Doe v. Bolton
B. Planned Parenthood. Detroit
C. Roe v. Wade
D. Harris v. McRae
Answer: ________
Rationale:________________________________________________________________________________________
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8. In this case of about abortion, Supreme Court examined a statutory provision that a woman required to receive her
husband’s permission prior having an abortion.
A. 1976 Danforth v.Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri case
B. Planned Parenthood. Detroit
C. Roe v. Wade
D. Harris v. McRae
Answer: ________
Rationale:________________________________________________________________________________________
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9. This is the union of sperm and the ovum in the stage of human embryo development?

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 Health Care Ethics
(Bioethics)

Module #12 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date: ________________

A. Intercourse
B. Implantation
C. Embryo
D. Conception
Answer: ________
Rationale:________________________________________________________________________________________
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10. The position that the decision to abort is one of personal liberty and thus should be legal is known as the position.
A. Pro-choice
B. Pro-life
C. Viability
D. Sanctity of life
Answer: ________
Rationale:________________________________________________________________________________________
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C. LESSON WRAP-UP

AL Activity: Formative Assessment

This strategy focuses on the assessment of your learnings after a lesson. You must answer the following questions, as
honest as possible, based on your own understanding.

1. What specific part of the Main Lesson for this session do you find the most confusing?
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2. What makes your answer in #1 confusing? What is the question in your mind?
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3. Since that is your most confusing lesson, what are the interventions that you must do to understand the topic?
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