Abortion Laws and Ethical Considerations

For social workers, the potential conflict between personal and professional ethics can be a source of great contention. Abortion is a highly politicized and contested topic. It is also one that reflects great diversity in terms of opinion, personal and professional ethics, and legal stances varying from state to state. For this Assignment, consider the topic of abortion, the laws of abortion that exist in the state or country in which you reside, and your own opinions on the topic. Also consider the relationship between your personal and professional ethical stance on the topic and how that may affect your interactions with clients.

Submit a 2-page paper that explains what you discovered about the laws of abortion in Georgia and why this information might be shared with clients.
Further, explain your personal stance on abortion and how your ethical entanglements might impact your work with clients given the professional social worker ethic.
Please use the Learning Resources to support your answer and use minimum of 2-3 references.

References

Greil, A. L., McQuillan, J., Lowry, M., & Shreffler, K. M. (2011). Infertility treatment and fertility-specific distress: A longitudinal analysis of a population-based sample of U.S. women. Social Science & Medicine, 73(1),87–94.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Child development. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/

Guttmacher Institute. (2012). State policies in brief: An overview of abortion laws. Retrieved from http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_OAL.pdf

National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2012). Prenatal methamphetamine exposure linked with problems.

Assignment 2: Journal Entry: From Margin to Center

It can be uncomfortable to realize that you have come either from a place of oppression or privilege. Individuals seldom use these terms to describe themselves or others. However, oppression and privilege impact every aspect of people’s lives. As you consider your own place in society, consider your emotional attachment to where you see yourself within these social constructs. Consider the assumptions made about you based on how you look, the clothes you wear, or the car you drive. Consider how the social construction of gender and race can impact your work as a social worker.

Submit a 2 page journal entry in which you analyze your reactions to the social construction of power, racial, and gender characteristics.
Explain how race and gender interact with privilege and oppression.
Identify and analyze which characteristics of oppressed or privileged individuals with which you identify. (African American)

Note: In this course you will be asked to provide journal entries on various topics. The intent of the journals is for you to reflect on some of the more difficult topics we address in this course. It should be a safe and confidential outlet for you to explore a little more deeply your thoughts and emotions surrounding that week’s topic. For this week, explore your thoughts and feelings around social construction of power, race, and gender. Quite often prior to beginning a social work program, students do not consider how privilege and power on the one side and oppression on the other side impact people every day. Discuss how this may be a new topic for you and give your personal responses to sometimes very difficult discussion.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.