Description:

Katie Watson, JD
Assistant Professor
Medical Humanities & Bioethics
Northwestern University

Clinical Medical Ethics and Abortion Care

The concept of "abortion ethics" is usually associated with a yes/no question: is abortion ethical? That philosophical and political debate has raged for decades, and many feel it will never be resolved. Meanwhile, in the realm of clinical care, abortion has been a legal and common medical practice in the U.S. for over forty years. In this lecture, Professor Watson will discuss the difference between bioethics and clinical medical ethics, analyze case-based ethics issues that arise in the everyday practice of abortion care, and consider why this type of analysis is largely missing from the medical ethics literature.