How do doctors discuss abortion with patients?
Davis notes that many women have already decided to terminate their pregnancy before they seek a doctor’s counsel. Depending on the doctor, a woman likely will be encouraged to consider her own moral and religious beliefs, her health status, her stage of life and the possibility of continuing the pregnancy and putting the child up for adoption. A doctor also may talk to the woman about what is important to her, how her partner feels about the pregnancy and her financial situation. Hoskins explains that whether the abortion conversation is initiated by the patient (“I can’t have this baby”) or the doctor (“There are medical problems with the pregnancy”), their conversation typically includes discussions of the reason for terminating the pregnancy, the options available at that point in the pregnancy and the doctor’s level of expertise and comfort with the various available procedures.
