The Impact of Policy Change

If this law were to be in effect, it will have an impact on the larger scope of health care. Abortion clinics, gynecological offices, and hospitals can potentially face a larger amount of patients coming in to receive an abortion under their care. Since a huge barrier that keeps pregnant females from doing a medical abortion could be cost and accessibility, there may be more motivation to try to find ways to get an abortion in a clinic in order to avoid getting penalized. However, if cost and accessibility still gets in the way for pregnant females, there may be further action taken to produce an abortion through their own means and still try to avoid the penalty. As for health care systems, they may make the option of abortion more accessible to patients, possibly at a lower and reasonable cost. More awareness programs to promote abstinence, contraception, and other options to abortion such as adoption may increase to be directed towards pregnant females as well. Nurses can incorporate these options and more awareness and teaching on abortion to their patients' plans of care. Pregnant females may take this teaching more into consideration because of the penalty put in place.

In the article entitled “Legal Barriers to Second Trimester Abortion Provision and Public Health Consequences,” laws that make it difficult for a woman to get an abortion during the second trimester have a negative impact on the pregnant female and the physicians’ practice. One point that was made in this article is that the enforcement of a law would not change the fact that many women delay abortions because of many factors, such as: cost and access barriers, late detection of pregnancy, and difficulty determining whether to keep the pregnancy(Jones, & Weitz, 2009). Hopefully this new bill, which holds the pregnant female responsible for her actions, will motivate her to seek the prompt care of a medical professional. It is also expected that physicians and nurses will encourage their patients to seek their care and educate them. Although the rising costs of abortions coupled with the constant influx of new regulations is not an incentive for someone of low socioeconomic status to want to seek a legal form of abortion, the threat of a felony hopefully will prompt her to seek medical guidance.

Jones, BS, & Weitz, TA. (2009). Legal barriers to second trimester abortion provision and public health consequences. 99(4), Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=13&hid=11&sid=949f0dbf-9c41-443a-9c6f-8b09cf443d11%40sessionmgr11