Name: Lourdes Joanna Kusumadi

NIM: 01071180126
Batch: 2018

Dilemma 3:
Sheila is a 38 years old housewife from village in Nias. She has 4 children. Her husband was
a fisherman who recently died in a motorcycle accident. Sheila finds out that she is 3 months
pregnant. She is very poor and is determined she does not want another child and will seek
an abortion. She comes to the local health clinic requesting an abortion. Jessy is the clinic
doctor.

If you are Jessy, (considering Sheila is your patient and you have a duty), will you provide a
‘safe’ abortion for Sheila? Provide the moral reasons for your action.

Answer:
If I’m in Jessy’s position, yes, I will provide a ‘safe’ abortion for Sheila. First of all, I want to
point out the fact that Sheila is from a village, where most of the time sex education or even
education in general are not being delivered properly, and sometimes most of the time children
in villages do not have the opportunity to have a proper education. This may apply to Sheila
and her husband as well, they weren’t properly educated in the use of contraception, this factor
translates to an uncontrolled child birth. This fact is proven by the fact that Sheila already has
5 children, and she is pregnant with her 5th child. Therefore, government may be partially
blamed in this situation because they did not provide the education and any form of
contraception in the village that could be used by villagers. Secondly, Sheila already has 4
children, that is already a burden financially and mentally for her. Raising 4 kids on her own
after her husband has passed away may lead her to stress, depression, or even overwork
herself that may make her vulnerable to diseases because she is too tired. In the first place,
her husband is not well-off, as he is only a fisherman but as he already passed away, all of
the burden of the 4 kids are all on her. If she is about to add one more burden to her life, she
may reach her breaking point as she needs to go through labour and after that work to provide
her kids with food and education. In this case, even giving a proper education to the kids are
questionable because even having a proper meal every day is still not secured just yet.
Additionally, according to human rights policy, there is no problem in Sheila deciding what to
do with her own body, as we all human being has the consent for our bodies and decisions. I
truly believe that in this case, the act of abortion would actually help Sheila to have a less
suffering daily life, as 4 kids are always better than 5. The responsibility of taking care of 5
kids may lead to neglection, or even malnutrition (not enough food for everyone). The action
that I would choose to go through for Sheila is to prescribe her with mifepristone, and at home,
6 to 72 hours later, a second pill, misoprostol, is taken buccally or vaginally. Medication
abortion, is an effective and low-cost un-surgical abortion, this abortion may be offered to
Sheila as she is only 12 weeks pregnant.

On the other hand, some people may argue that it is an act of murder as we are taking a life
of a growing fetus. In my opinion, I do see where this argument comes from, but my counter
argument would be the environment that would be provided to the new born, when he/she is
born is not appropriate as Sheila is a single parent without a job and with 4 children who are
not raised in a proper condition as well. If Sheila keep the baby, the living condition of Sheila
and her 5 children would be hideous. I would choose to let this life to be in another life instead
of the life that her mom is about to give her/him.

In conclusion, the moral judgement from this situation is that there is a positive side on every
aspect of the spectrum if Sheila goes through the abortion, less burden for Sheila and her
other 4 children, meanwhile the baby does not need to go through a hard life once he/she is
born. Hence, if I’m in Jessy’s shoes, I would help Sheila to have a ‘safe’ abortion.