In the field of social work, we are faced with ethical dilemmas, more often than not. These dilemmas can come from conflicts with certain social work ethics and standards such as the right to self-determination, dual relationships, or confidentiality. A social worker can even face an ethical dilemma from a conflict of morals and values that they may have with their client. I will be examining an ethical dilemma that intersects both morals and values and confidentiality. Let’s say for example a social worker has an 18 year old client who is pregnant, still living with their parents and seeking an abortion. Due to the social worker’s religion they are against abortion. Because the client has the right to self-determination the social worker cannot
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If a social worker works in a state where accessing an abortion is extremely difficult due to restrictions, they should work towards and advocate towards changing those laws that make getting an abortion so challenging due to Maslow’s theory of needs and the risks of unsafe abortions. Maslow’s theory of needs, as is mentioned in Ethics and Values in Social Work, lists physical security as one of the innate physiological needs that an individual has, which can be interpreted to include bodily autonomy ( ). When someone’s bodily autonomy is being violated it can be seen as a lack of physical security. The person who is being violated as such has no control over what will happen to their body, in terms of abortion the person has no control over whether or not they can terminate their …show more content…
If a person has difficulty accessing a safe abortion it is possible they will turn to an unsafe abortion. According to the World Health Organization, women are likely to resort to an unsafe abortion when faced with an unplanned pregnancy and provisions for safe abortions are restricted, unavailable or inaccessible and where abortions are highly restricted by law, abortions are mostly unsafe ( ). Unsafe abortions also come with health risks; a best case scenario would be infertility, and the worst and most likely case would be death. Not only that but where the abortion law is restrictive the unsafe abortion mortality ratio is high (
If a social worker works in a state where accessing an abortion is extremely difficult due to restrictions, they should work towards and advocate towards changing those laws that make getting an abortion so challenging due to Maslow’s theory of needs and the risks of unsafe abortions. Maslow’s theory of needs, as is mentioned in Ethics and Values in Social Work, lists physical security as one of the innate physiological needs that an individual has, which can be interpreted to include bodily autonomy ( ). When someone’s bodily autonomy is being violated it can be seen as a lack of physical security. The person who is being violated as such has no control over what will happen to their body, in terms of abortion the person has no control over whether or not they can terminate their …show more content…
If a person has difficulty accessing a safe abortion it is possible they will turn to an unsafe abortion. According to the World Health Organization, women are likely to resort to an unsafe abortion when faced with an unplanned pregnancy and provisions for safe abortions are restricted, unavailable or inaccessible and where abortions are highly restricted by law, abortions are mostly unsafe ( ). Unsafe abortions also come with health risks; a best case scenario would be infertility, and the worst and most likely case would be death. Not only that but where the abortion law is restrictive the unsafe abortion mortality ratio is high (