Family Planning: Navigating Ethical Challenges in Developing Nations - Essay Sample

Introduction

Since the earliest times, family planning has always been practiced throughout the world, and the family planning field, as well as the general population, is still confronted by challenging ethical issues. In developing nations, more research on the use of contraceptives is required for the resulting technology to reflect local conditions. Moreover, the development of contraceptive politicization and testing can be said to impede consideration of the ethical issues. People must, therefore, maintain high ethical standards with attention to the use of contraceptives as the human subject choice to curb discriminatory practices or double standards. The paper, thus, is premised on a discussion regarding the relevant legal and ethical considerations as well as the Beauchamp and Childress' four main ethical principles applying to the depicted case study. The health of women can thus, be enhanced if they are given the right and opportunity to make their reproduction choices regarding contraception, abortion, sex, and the application of reproductive technologies (Sheldon, 2015).

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Legal and Ethical Considerations

Different nations have their rules and regulations as well as how they should be followed. The legal and ethical considerations for the use of contraceptives are often thorny. In a state where there are restrictive laws of abortion, women are forced to seek medical assistance after unprotected intercourse (Koocher, & Keith-Spiegel, 2008), like the case of Taylah. When one decides to use contraceptives, two central ethical issues come up, which are often related to any method of family planning provision: the assessment of various methods with their risk-benefit ratios and informed consent (Shrestha, & Jose, 2014). Therefore, it is the obligation and right of health professionals to provide enough and relevant information to the clients' understanding as they must always ascertain that the benefits and risks are efficiently communicated to the women seeking contraception.

Infringement on the Reproductive Rights of Women

Taylah's right to reproductive self-determination such as health care rights and the benefits of her scientific progress should be protected by the international covenant on cultural, social, and economic rights (Michaud, Berg-Kelly, Macfarlane, & Benaroyo, 2010). Therefore, in case she was exposed to unprotected intercourse during her binge drinking at the parties and is eligible to contracting sexually transmitted infections and becoming pregnant, she should have access to the relevant methods of contraception that might not put her life at great risk (Koocher, & Keith-Spiegel, 2008).

Rape

In a state where there are restrictive laws of abortion and where the services of reproductive health might be perceived to be related to abortion, one may consider focusing on the initial efforts at making emergency contraception when they have been raped (Kangasniemi, Pakkanen, & Korhonen, 2015). For instance, for the case of Taylah, binge drinking often leads to consequential acts that are done when people are not sober. Maybe, she did not give in to the random boys as she was raped without her conscience. The health professional should, therefore, consider giving her contraceptives after knowing Taylah's diabetic state and educating her on the side effects on the use of contraceptives, which may also prevent her from contracting sexually transmitted diseases easily (Michaud et al., 2010).

Religious Arguments

There are often some considerable religious constraints to the use of contraceptives more so in the predominantly Catholic countries who oppose artificial methods of family planning. Before Taylah undertakes the use of contraceptive, the health professional should inquire about her religion and the restrictions her religion has regarding the use of contraceptives (Shrestha, & Jose, 2014). Taylah might be given the contraceptives, but her religion is against it which might make her to construed as a sinner. However, many women often do not follow the teachings of the church on contraceptive use as the church often exerts a powerful influence on the government laws and policies which affect legal access to various methods of family planning (Kerridge, Lowe, & Stewart, 2009). Moreover, since the IUD and pills are legally available, their postcoital function cannot be prevented. However, the church might escalate its campaign on banning the contraceptive methods as they consider the tactics to be erroneous because the contraception measures are abortifacients as well as intrinsically evil (Koocher, & Keith-Spiegel, 2008).

Testing and Safety

The long and short-term safety of methods of contraception, especially when they are administered to poor women in developing nations, has always been neglected by various health service personnel and regulatory bodies. In scenarios of emergency contraception, where the various existing methods are often used for different significant functions, women might suffer side effects, discomfort, or other consequences due to changes in the administration mode or larger doses. Nevertheless, further testing of numerous methods of contraception, even in the nations where there are generally low health standards, it might be ethical (Kangasniemi et al., 2015). For instance, in the current researches, copper IUDs are always on the sale for emergency contraception, and there are no reported long-term complications for the emergency use of the oral contraceptives. Also, combined IUDs and oral contraceptives have been studied extensively for regular contraceptive function, but they are only safe for women who are screened appropriately (Sheldon, 2015).

Cultural Acceptability

The cultural acceptability is always about both the providers and the users. For instance, there might be a relatively low prevalence on the use of modern contraceptives among women between the age of fifteen to forty-nine as they fear the rumored side effects (Koocher, & Keith-Spiegel, 2008). Therefore, they may consider a one-time contraceptive use as it is more acceptable than regular, sustained use. Also, some women might alter the decisions of others using their language and vocabulary on the use of contraceptives since most pregnancy terms always imply that no life has been created during the conception period. For instance, Taylah in case she was expectant, might not be considered pregnant in the first few days or weeks after she has missed her period (Kerridge et al., 2009). Instead, she can be said to be in the conception process or is conceiving which takes more than a month after a missed period.

Also, many women believe that pregnancy only comes in when they experience a quickening effect. Therefore, since many culturally acceptable women often use hormonal compounds in inducing menstruation, educating them on the proper use of contraceptive pills might not be difficult for them to control their sexual lives. They can also be educated on other alternative ways of preventing sexually transmitted infections through practicing family planning methods regularly instead of relying on the emergency methods that may have numerous side effects (Kangasniemi et al. 2015; Sheldon, 2015).

Beauchamp and Childress Four Main Ethical Principles

Respect for Autonomy

According to Beauchamp and Childress, any moral decision-making notion assumes that rational agents take part in making voluntary and informed decisions (Beauchamp, & Childress, 2001). In decision pertaining health care, the autonomy respect of the client or patient might, in common parlance, showcase that the client has the right to act with understanding, intentionally, and without any external influences which might mitigate against a voluntary and free act. Moreover, the principle is often the primary aim of the informed consent practice in the patient or physician transaction regarding health care (Holm, 1995). For example, in the sense of prima facie, the nurse must respect Taylah's autonomy. The respect is often not a matter of attitude, but it is a way of acting to enhance and recognize a patient's autonomous actions. Then if the nurse becomes successful in her skills, Taylah might freely select systems of religious belief, loyalties or values which limit some of her freedoms (Gillon, 2015).

The Principle of Nonmaleficence

The nonmaleficence principle requires all the medical personnel, counselors, or instructors not to intentionally create an injury or harm to a patient, either via omission or commission acts. In short, according to the principle of nonmaleficence, it is negligent if a physician or nurse imposes an unreasonable or careless risk of harm to a patient (Gillon, 2015). Moreover, providing the correct and valid care standard which minimizes or avoids any risk of harm is often supported by the involved community's commonly held moral convictions as well as the laws of the society.

Nonmaleficence principle affirms the medical competence need as at some point; medical mistakes might take place. However, the principle articulates a vital commitment to all the health care professionals having the right to protect their patients from any injury or harm (Beauchamp, & Childress, 2001). For instance, in the course of caring for Taylah in agreeing to use contraceptives, there are cases where some types of harm might be inevitable, and the nurse is morally bound to select a method that is safer and lesser of the evils, even if the safest means might be accompanied and determined by circumstances (Gillon, 2015). In case Taylah uses pills, the nurse must ascertain that her health is safe at it depends on her actions.

The principle of Beneficence

The principle states that all the health care providers should be beneficial to their patients and they should take positive steps in removing and preventing harm from a patient (Beauchamp, & Childress, 2001). The tasks and duties are often reviewed as self-evident and rational and are the most accepted goals and aims of medicine. Nonetheless, the principle implies that a suffering patient or supplicant can be in a relationship with a person whom the society has legally licensed to be competent in providing medical care, as the society trusts that the primary objective of the physician is to assist. Therefore, the aim of being beneficial might be applied to the patients involved as well as the good of the community and society as a whole (Holm, 1995). For example, Taylah's good health is an appropriate medicine goal for the nurse, just like disease prevention through researches and vaccine employment, which are often goals to an expanded population that needs to be healthy.

In most health cares, the principle of beneficence is often prioritized over the patient's autonomy respect principle. For instance, when in case Taylah had unprotected intercourse with the random boys during the party, the nurse might issue her with emergency contraceptives that will prevent further harm to her health (Holm, 1995). Also, in case Taylah is incapacitated with the grave nature of sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancy that might make her do abortion, the nurse will presume that Taylah would require aggressive treatment (Lawrence, 2007). She will, therefore, rush in providing beneficent intervention by giving her proper medical attention and counseling regarding her health and her decision of using contraceptives.

Principle of Justice

In health care, justice gets construed as a form of fairness or giving every person that which is due or required. Therefore, justice implies the distribution of goods or services fairly in society, and it requires medical professionals to look at their entitlement role (Beauchamp, & Childress, 2001). However, the inquiry of distributive justice seems to hinge the...