A Christian view of humans presupposes that the concept of dignity relates to one’s species and manifests in ways that require people to remain somewhere between God-like and creature-like states. Ultimately, human values cannot be utterly pure because excellence is not available to human creatures (Najafi et al., 2017). Nevertheless, the mundane aspects of one’s life can be affecting the quality of interpersonal relationships and redefine the nature of one’s behaviors and wishes.
Not only would it make humans closer to God, but it would also give people more consistency in terms of how they follow the ‘rules’ of dignity (Guiahi, 2018). This is also one of the many reasons why dignity is mostly linked to societal rights instead of individual capabilities, such as violence, sexual satisfaction, and bodily integrity. One’s relationship with God should be perceived as the foundation for human dignity because of the need to center on humans and not properties or material values.
Theories Employed by Case Study Actors
The first theory that relates to the case is the moral agency theory that may be utilized to gain more insight into the moral background of case study actors’ decisions. The probability of finding common ground and making a correct decision will increase significantly. According to Weber (2018), the application of the moral agency theory could affect the process of distinguishing between right and wrong since the latter two concepts delineate a person’s moral status.
The sentience theory is the second choice for the current case study since it defines how a person may react to pain and pleasure while displaying adequate responses. In a way, sentience can be described as a person’s ability to maintain their moral status through the interface of behavioral adjustments (Di Giminiani, 2018). On a bigger scale, the sentience theory suggests that every human deserves to be protected against negativity and the lack of support.
The third theory of moral status that can be associated with the current case study is the relationship theory. It revolves around the idea that people depend on personal binds that affect them at work, in the family, or when interacting with care providers (May et al., 2018). Therefore, the relationship theory makes it safe to say that certain decisions may depend exclusively on what kind of outcomes are expected by each of the parties involved in the case.
Based on the three theories of moral status above, it may be claimed that Dr. Wilson should be expected to apply the theory of cognitive properties in order to help Jessica realize the potential burden of giving birth to an abnormal fetus. In the literature, the theory of cognitive properties is defined as a person’s ability to apply knowledge and awareness to real-life situations (Parker-Tomlin et al., 2017). The decision to abort may be seen as ethically plausible since the fetus does not attain any moral status.
The relationship theory may be implemented as well since Aunt Maria wants Jessica to keep the baby because the Bible says that it is morally wrong to even think of abortion. One’s moral and ethical responsibilities represent the foundation of the relationship theory because most decisions require people to resort to their awareness and personal experience to make the right choice (Stanley et al., 2020). Ultimately, the moral agency theory may be associated with Aunt Maria as well because she strongly advocates for God and sees no other plausible ways of resolving the issue rather than to persuade Jessica and Marco not to abort the fetus.
Influence of Theories
Even though each of the actors involved in the case has the opportunity to cope with the abortion scenario in at least two ways, it may be reasonable to assume that the only person actually willing to keep the baby is Aunt Maria. The relationship theory and the moral agency theory avert her from siding with the idea that abortion would benefit Jessica and Marco on a long-term scale. While Jessica is concerned with the inability to maintain her religious beliefs, she realizes that the financial strain of giving birth to an abnormal fetus is going to cause even more issues. Jessica is the moral agency of the family, so she has the right to make the decision without relying on anyone else’s opinion.
The relationship theory may be applied to the current case study because the entire family’s wellbeing patterns are going to change if Jessica decides not to keep the baby. The cognitive properties theory secures the idea that safe abortion is going to become the best choice for the family.
Personal Outlook
From the position of a healthcare provider, I would side with the theory of cognitive properties since the best way to resolve the conundrum would be to engage in action. In this case, it means that the mother should sign up for abortion in order to evade any health problems for the child and herself. Since the chance of exposing herself to the dangers of giving birth to an abnormal fetus is rather high, the mother should not continue the pregnancy to make sure that no one is going to be affected in a negative way. Nevertheless, I realize that the medical and scientific ‘benefits’ of abortion barely outrun the difficulties of having to go through an abortion and kill the unborn baby. Jessica should have been provided with another chance to live, so the best way for it to occur would be to validate abortion and prevent herself from dying as well. Most probably, an abortion would also prevent Jessica from financial constraints linked to the lack of resources in the family.
References
Di Giminiani, P. (2018). Sentient lands: Indigeneity, property, and political imagination in neoliberal Chile. University of Arizona Press.
Guiahi, M. (2018). Catholic health care and women’s health. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 131(3), 534-537. Web.
May, C. R., Cummings, A., Girling, M., Bracher, M., Mair, F. S., May, C. M.,… & Finch, T. (2018). Using normalization process theory in feasibility studies and process evaluations of complex healthcare interventions: A systematic review. Implementation Science, 13(1), 1-27. Web.
Najafi, F., Fallahi‐Khoshknab, M., Ahmadi, F., Dalvandi, A., & Rahgozar, M. (2017). Human dignity and professional reputation under threat: Iranian Nurses’ experiences of workplace violence. Nursing & Health Sciences, 19(1), 44-50. Web.
Parker-Tomlin, M., Boschen, M., Morrissey, S., & Glendon, I. (2017). Cognitive continuum theory in interprofessional healthcare: A critical analysis. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 31(4), 446-454. Web.
Stanley, S. J., Chatham, A. P., Trivedi, N., & Aldoory, L. (2020). Communication and control: Hearing the voices of low-income African American adults to improve relationships with healthcare providers. Health Communication, 35(13), 1633-1642. Web.
Weber, A. S. (2018). Emerging medical ethical issues in healthcare and medical robotics. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, 7(6), 604-607. Web.