Abortion and Professional Responsibility

Abortion is a common experience for women around the world; yet it is often excluded from the curricula of health professionals. Our aim is to fill in the gaps left by the exclusion of abortion from mainstream curricula.

This section contains all video lectures and companion materials relating to abortion and professional responsibility.

Learning Objectives

After watching these video lectures, learner will:

Identify programs in medical education and describe the importance of integrated abortion training
Understand the professional responsibilities of health-care providers caring for women seeking abortion
Recognize and appreciate appropriate and inappropriate applications of “conscience” in the setting of abortion care
Practice patient communication skills
Identify steps to take to enhance professionalism in personally challenging clinical encounters
Identify Advanced Practice Clinicians as key stakeholders in abortion provision

Assessments

Professional Responsibilities Questions

Professional Responsibilities Answers

Video Lectures and Companion Materials

Physicians’ Professional Responsibilities in Abortion Care

Video Lecture Presented by:

Jody Steinauer, MD, MAS

University of California, San Francisco

Click here to download this video lecture

Lecture can be viewed with subtitles in Spanish or French. French translation was made possible by the Safe Abortion Action Fund and International Planned Parenthood Federation. Click the Closed Captions button on video lectures to access subtitles.

_{Opinion AC. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 385. The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; 2007.}

_{Curlin FA, Lawrence RE, Chin MH, Lantos JD. Religion, conscience, and controversial clinical practices. N Engl J Med 2007 Feb;356(6):593-600.}

_{Johnson BR, Kismödi E, Dragoman MV, Temmerman M. Conscientious objection to provision of legal abortion care. Int J Gynaecol Obstet 2013 Dec;123 Suppl 3:S60-2.}

Physicians’ Professional Responsibilities in Abortion Care Slide Set

Slide Set from Video Lecture Presented by:

Jody Steinauer, MD, MAS
University of California, San Francisco

Click to download Physicians’ Professional Responsibilities in Abortion Care (pdf)

Physicians’ Professional Responsibilities in Abortion Care Slide Set

Slide Set from Video Lecture Presented by:

Jody Steinauer, MD, MAS
University of California, San Francisco

Click to download Physicians’ Professional Responsibilities in Abortion Care (pdf)

Nursing Roles in Abortion Care

Video Lecture Presented by:

Amy Levi, PhD, CNM, WHNP-BC

University of New Mexico

Additional Resources

Revised code of Ethics in 2015

The ICN code of Ethics for Nurses

Click here to download this video lecture

_{Abortion Train. 20 Cavendish Square London: Royal College of Nursing; 2008}

_{Who we are. 2015 [cited; Available from: http://www.icn.ch/who-we-are/who-we-are/}

_{Association AN. Code of Ethics for Nurses. 2015 [cited; Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/codeofethics}

Nursing Roles in Abortion Care: Clinical Responsibility and Professional Ethics Slide Set

Slide Set from Video Lecture Presented by:

Amy Levi, PhD, CNM, WHNP-BC
Albers Professor of Midwifery
University of New Mexico

Click to download Nursing Roles in Abortion Care: Clinical Responsibility and Professional Ethics (pdf)

Nursing Roles in Abortion Care: Clinical Responsibility and Professional Ethics Slide Set

Slide Set from Video Lecture Presented by:

Amy Levi, PhD, CNM, WHNP-BC
Albers Professor of Midwifery
University of New Mexico

Click to download Nursing Roles in Abortion Care: Clinical Responsibility and Professional Ethics (pdf)

Conscientious Provision and Refusal of Abortion Care

Video Lecture Presented by:

Lori Freedman, PhD, MA

University of California, San Francisco

Additional Resources

Guttmacher state laws and policy regarding conscientious refusal in the United States

FIGO guidelines on conscientious objection

Center for Reproductive Rights Law and Policy, Guide on Conscientious Objection (International Perspective)

Click here to download this video lecture

_{ACLU. MISCARRIAGE OF MEDICINE: THE GROWTH OF CATHOLIC HOSPITALS AND THE THREAT TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE. [cited 2015; Available from: https://www.aclu.org/report/miscarriagemedicine-growth-catholic-hospitals-and-threat-reproductive-health-care?redirect=religion-beliefreproductive-freedom/miscarriage-medicine-growth-catholic-hospitals-and-threat}

_{Chavkin W. Conscientious objection to the provision of reproductive healthcare. Int J Gynaecol Obstet 2013 Dec;123 Suppl 3:S39-40.}

_{Freedman LR, Landy U, Steinauer J. When there’s a heartbeat: miscarriage management in Catholicowned hospitals. Am J Public Health 2008 Oct;98(10):1774-8.}

_{Freedman LR, Stulberg DB. Conflicts in Care for Obstetric Complications in Catholic Hospitals. 2012:1- 10.}

_{Institute G. State Policies in a Brief: Refusing to Provide Health Services. 2015 [cited; Available from: http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_RPHS.pdf}

_{Harris LH. Recognizing conscience in abortion provision. N Engl J Med 2012 Sep;367(11):981-3.}

_{Lithwick D. Why Should We Worry About Religious Conscience Clauses? 2013 2013-10-03T10:35:11Z.}

_{Lynch HF. Conflicts of Conscience in Health Care: An Institutional Compromise: MIT Press.}

_{http://www.usccb.org}

_{Dickens, Conscientious Commitment, 2008.}

Conscientious Provision and Refusal of Abortion Care Slide Set

Slide Set from Video Lecture Presented by:

Lori Freedman, PhD

University of California, San Francisco

Click to download Conscientious Provision and Refusal of Abortion Care Slide Set (pdf)

Conscientious Provision and Refusal of Abortion Care Slide Set

Slide Set from Video Lecture Presented by:

Lori Freedman, PhD

University of California, San Francisco

Click to download Conscientious Provision and Refusal of Abortion Care Slide Set (pdf)

Teaching Professionalism for Abortion Care

Video Lecture Presented by:

Jody Steinauer, MD, MAS

University of California, San Francisco

Click here to download this video lecture

Citations:

_{MedEdPortal. [cited; Available from: https://www.mededportal.org/}

_{Ipas | Abortion attitude transformation: A values clarification toolkit for global audiences. 2011 [cited; Available from: http://www.ipas.org/en/Resources/Ipas%20Publications/Abortion-attitudetransformation–A-values-clarification-toolkit-for-global-audiences-2.aspx}

_{Innovating Education in Reproductive Health. 2015 [cited; Available from: http://www.innovatingeducation.org/}

_{The Reproductive Health Access Project. 2015 [cited; Available from: http://www.reproductiveaccess.org/}

_{Neumann M, Edelhäuser F, Tauschel D, Fischer MR, Wirtz M, Woopen C, et al. Empathy decline and its reasons: a systematic review of studies with medical students and residents. Acad Med 2011 Aug;86(8):996-1009.}

_{Provide. Bringing a Referrals Training to Your Site – Provide. 2015}

_{Shapiro J. Walking a mile in their patients’ shoes: empathy and othering in medical students’ education. Philos Ethics Humanit Med 2008;3:10.}

_{Adapted from Obtaining Abortion Training: a Guide for Informed Decision-Making. NAF, 1998.}

_{https://prochoice.org/}

_{https://prh.org/}

Teaching Professionalism for Abortion Care Slide Set

Slide Set from Video Lecture Presented by:

Jody Steinauer, MD, MAS

University of California, San Francisco

Click to download Teaching Professionalism for Abortion Care (pdf)

Teaching Professionalism for Abortion Care Slide Set

Slide Set from Video Lecture Presented by:

Jody Steinauer, MD, MAS

University of California, San Francisco

Click to download Teaching Professionalism for Abortion Care (pdf)

Abortion in the Primary Care Setting

Video Lecture Presented by:

Christine Dehlendorf, MD, MAS

University of California, San Francisco
Click here to download this video lecture

Citations:

_{Jones RK, Jerman J. Abortion incidence and service availability in the United States, 2011. Perspect Sex Reprod Health 2014 Mar;46(1):3-14.}

_{Robert Graham Center}

_{O’Connell K, Jones HE, Simon M, Saporta V, Paul M, Lichtenberg ES. First-trimester surgical abortion practices: a survey of National Abortion Federation members. Contraception 2009 May;79(5):385-92.}

_{Paul M, Nobel K, Goodman S, Lossy P, Moschella JE, Hammer H. Abortion training in three family medicine programs: resident and patient outcomes. Fam Med 2007 Mar;39(3):184-9.}

_{Westfall JM, Sophocles A, Burggraf H, Ellis S. Manual vacuum aspiration for first-trimester abortion. Arch Fam Med 1998 Nov-Dec;7(6):559-62.}

_{Godfrey EM, Rubin SE, Smith EJ, Khare MM, Gold M. Women’s preference for receiving abortion in primary care settings. J Womens Health (Larchmt) 2010 Mar;19(3):547-53.}

_{Rubin SE, Godfrey E, Gold M. Patient attitudes toward early abortion services in the family medicine clinic. J Am Board Fam Med 2008 Mar-Apr;21(2):162-4.}

_{Shochet T, Trussell J. Determinants of demand: method selection and provider preference among US women seeking abortion services. Contraception 2008 Jun;77(6):397-404.}

_{Herbitter C, Greenberg M, Fletcher J, Query C, Dalby J, Gold M. Family planning training in US family medicine residencies. Fam Med 2011 Sep;43(8):574-81.}

_{Dehlendorf CE, Grumbach K. Medical liability insurance as a barrier to the provision of abortion services in family medicine. Am J Public Health 2008 Oct;98(10):1770-4.}