University Trains Med Students How to Give Abortion Advice to Religious Women
The University of California-San Francisco has come out with a training book for medical students which teaches them "counseling techniques" on how to talk to religious women about abortion, especially if they "believe that life begins at conception and that abortion is an act of murder."
"Patients can experience moral conflict when they seek abortion and they believe that life begins at conception and that abortion is an act of murder," reads a section in the chapter "Pregnancy Option Counseling Techniques" in "Early Abortion Training Workbook," published by the university's Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, according to The College Fix.
The workbook offers this advice to deal with spiritual or moral conflict: "People of all faiths and religions have abortions. You do not need any background in religious or spiritual matters to talk to patients about abortion. You do not have to know the answer to the patient's dilemma. Explore what this conflict means for them and what is getting in the way of their feeling like a good person. It may be beneficial to make a plan with them that can include readings (Maguire 2001), internet resources (www.faithaloud.org), discussions with their own clergy and/or a pro-choice religious group, or other counseling referrals."
The group Faith Aloud says on its website that it "wants every woman to feel confident and at peace with her decision. We want every woman to feel supported. We believe that women are good, created in the image of God, and able to make difficult decisions. We believe this power to make personal decisions is given to us by God."
The workbook also says that abortion may be the "most responsible" decision for women, and asks them to think how pregnancy might "change or affect" their goals over the next five years, according to Campus Reform.
Last month, the 25,000-member Massachusetts Medical Society adopted a new policy that stated that it would oppose any effort to criminalize women who try to self-abort their own unborn children.
Seven states have banned the act of self-induced abortions and several others have laws enacted that could make women who induce their own abortion subject to legal punishment.
The upcoming film "Roe v. Wade" seeks to explain "what happened from 1966 through 1973" that led to the Supreme Court's decision declaring existing laws against abortion unconstitutional.
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