Much Stronger Pro-Life Sentiment

BIG CHANGES IN NURSES' ATTITUDES ON ABORTION

By Dave Andrusko

In a stunning turnaround, 61% of nurses responding to a poll for RN magazine said they would not work on an obstetrical and gynecological unit that performed abortions. When that same question was asked in 1988, only 48% said they would not work on an OB-GYN unit which performed abortions - - a 13 percentage point increase in opposition in only 10 years.

"What might account for this turnabout?" wrote RN associate editor Marissa Ventura in an article that accompanied the poll results. "One likely explanation is that more nurses today are opposed to abortion."

Ventura speculated that nurses may feel abortion shouldn't be necessary (except for the traditional "hard cases") "given the numerous options available to prevent pregnancy." She added, " Indeed, many readers expressed strong feelings against those who use abortion as a form of birth control."

Last July RN, one of the big three nursing magazines, mailed its survey to 2,000 hospital-based nurses who subscribe to the publication. Responses were received from 743 readers, an exceptionally high return.

According to Ventura, the "most striking change has been among those nurses who care most intimately for mother and baby" - - OB- GYN/newborn nurses. Only 37% of these nurses said they would " work on a unit where the procedure is performed" - - a decline of 18 percentage points from 1988, when 55% said they would.

But Marianne Linane, executive director of the National Association of Pro-Life Nurses, was not surprised by the tally. " It's just further evidence that we've been very successful in raising the visibility of the abortion issue and in educating the general public," Linane told NRL News. "When anyone - - and that includes nurses - - is forced to think about abortion, it is nearly impossible to remain part of the 'mushy middle'; they are compelled to make a decision."

The increase in the percentage of nurses who will not work on an abortion-performing OB-GYN unit, she said, "reflects what we are seeing in society at large: people are coming over to the pro- life side."

Beyond general societal trends, Linane believes two specific items account for much of the shift: the debate over partial- birth abortion and euthanasia's ever-higher profile.

"Partial-birth abortion has played a tremendous role in altering attitudes," she said. "It exposes abortion for what it truly is." The RN survey backed this up.

"Nearly two-thirds of the nurses we surveyed say that partial-birth abortion should be prohibited by law," Ventura wrote in her article, "Ethics on the Job: Where Nurses Stand on Abortion."

Likewise, issues related to end-of-life decisions are multiplying. "More and more nurses work outside hospitals," Linane said, in nursing homes, hospice centers, or in providing home care. Thus, more and more nurses are exposed to these "up close and personal" issues, she said.

The National Association of Pro-Life Nurses was first charted 21 years ago, Linane told NRL News. One of the main impetuses for the organization's creation was to help protect nurses whose supervisors sought to have them compromise their consciences.

Unfortunately, this problem persists. Linane said, however, it was encouraging that the RN article noted that the Code for Nurses with Interpretative Statements states, "If ethically opposed to interventions in a particular case because of the procedures to be used, the nurse is justified in refusing to participate."

Linane said her organization is aggressively recruiting new members. For instance, it is advertising in general medical journals and in publications that are geared specifically to nurses. She said she hopes that membership will double over the next year.

You can reach the National Association of Pro-Life Nurses at P.O. Box 26883, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226. You can also find its web page at www.usd.edu/~jemeyers/ nursing.htm.