Despite a reprimand form her professional association, pro-life nurse Isobel Brophy says she’ll still give women patients “who ask leading question” the truth about abortion.
The Terrace B.C. nurse underwent a grueling hearing this summer to face charges by the Registered Nurses Association of British Columbia (RNABC) or unethical and unprofessional conduct, and putting a patient at risk.
The charges came after Brophy protested the scheduling of an abortion during a nurses’ strike last year. The abortion was rescheduled two weeks later.
The 44-year-old nurse has also talked to women admitted for abortions about their decision, which prompted further charges against her.
The reprimand amounts to a “slap on the wrist,” Brophy told The Interim. “Considering the strength of the pro-abortion feeling of the nurses’ executive of the profession, I’m glad the results were as mild as they were.”
Brophy, who had an abortion as a teenager, has “informed women about the complete picture” during her 16 years at Mills Memorial Hospital in Terrace.
But during the hearing, the panel “refused to debate abortion or its fallout,” making it impossible for Brophy to defend her actions, she said.
The RNABC decision said the nurse’s conduct was “unethical…unacceptable…and threatened the psychological safety of all the patients who testified.”
Brophy says she’s not surprised by the experience. “I’m used to it. I know what’s involved in fighting abortion.”
Her hearing was important because it threw a spotlight on the women who “feel deeply about their forced complicity” with abortion, she said, adding, “I felt I was acting as their representative.” Brophy, who will continue nursing at Mills Memorial, hopes her experience and continued willingness to speak out has “made a difference to some of my colleagues.” And she predicts that pro-life nurses will soon be involved in another battle that will make the fight against abortion seem “relatively easy.”
The battle is the reality of euthanasia in a hospital setting. “Whether nurses like it or not, we’re going to be thrust into the heat of the debate on this issue,” Brophy observed.
Nurses will be “expected to assist the agent of death, or lose their jobs. It sounds far-fetched, but I think it’s coming.”
