Essay on Sara: Pregnant Woman Alone With Two Kids - Mood Swings and Despair

Introduction

Sara is a twenty-nine-year-old pregnant woman. Currently, she is five months pregnant and has a two-year-old daughter. Sara's boyfriend left her when he found out she was pregnant again, moved to another town, and blocked all communication from her through social media and her cellular phone. Ever since her boyfriend left, Sara has been exhibiting mood swings and has expressed to friends that she sees no need for living because she is unable to take care of her two-year-old child and her unborn baby. More so, Sara told friends that she regrets having those children because she now has no means of taking care of them without her boyfriend.

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She is currently jobless and depends on food stamps and unemployment benefits to take care of her child. Also, she is up for eviction in one month because she failed to pay for her rent for the past three months. Her family abandoned her years prior because she refused to end her relationship with her now ex-boyfriend. At three months, Sara had a miscarriage scare.

She visited her primary care doctor, and he advised her that she should eat well, avoid heavy tasks, and live stress-free. During examination, the doctor noticed that she has an inconsistent heartbeat. More so, the doctor advised her to go to the mental health practitioner's office to get further advice. The mental health practitioner determined that she has a mood disorder, has depression because of her financial situation and anxiety because she will be homeless soon. Upon reaching home, Sara told friends that she wishes to terminate the pregnancy and put her two-year-old child for adoption. Due to her situation, Sarah does not know whether to go back to her family, ask for forgiveness, and raise her children as a single mother or terminate her pregnancy, give her two-year-old child for adoption, and continue with her life.

Key Points of the Dilemma

Sara is five months pregnant

She is currently a single mother of one child

She broke up with her boyfriend

She expresses feelings of low-quality of life and has frequent mood swings

She has revealed to friends that she regrets having children and would wish to abort and give her two-year-old child for adoption

She is currently up for eviction

She has no contact with her family because of disagreements with her choice of love interest

Her primary care doctor advised her to eat well, avoid stress, and minimize carrying heavy loads. Also, she noticed an inconsistent heart rate.

He mental health doctor established that she has depression, mood disorder, and anxiety.

Key Terms of the Dilemma

The key terms are mood swings, depression, and anxiety. The mentioned terms are the ones derived from the dilemma because those are the issues that Sara is experiencing due to her current situation.

Conflicts in the Dilemma

Sara thinks that she should contact her family, ask for help, and go and live with them with her two children. However, since she has no communication with them because of a disagreement with her choice of boyfriend, she thinks about option two. Also, Sara feels that she should terminate her pregnancy and give her two-year-old child for adoption. Undeniably, Sara is experiencing confusion because she does not know what to do because of the two options. The confusion is creating conflict in the dilemma.

Original Perspective Relative to the Dilemma and what It signals

Various research articles can be used to reference the ethical dilemma in Sara's case. Kendler (2019) examined the causes of psychiatric illness in patients with depression. According to the authors, many patients fail to seek treatment because of the stigma associated with mental health. In Sara's case, she is aware that she has depression. Due to that, she looks for two options that would enable her to overcome depression in an attempt to live a healthy life. In his article, Bransby (2018) discussed the causes of depression. According to the author, the lack of status, loneliness, hardship, trauma, lack of fulfillment, and trauma are the likely causes of depression. From the scenario, it appears that Sara had a good life before her boyfriend dumped her. after she remained alone, the lack of fulfillment, hardship, and the lack of status are the cause of depression and anxiety in Sara's life. Furthermore, Bermejo-Pareja, Trincado, and Olazaran (2013) stated that depression is likely to cause dementia in the long-run. In Sara's case, if her depression continues to persist, she might likely experience dementia during old age. For her to avoid more complications in the future, Sara should consider contacting her family for help.

Sara's depression can have an adverse consequence on her pregnancy. Field, Diego, and Hernandez-Reif (2010) discussed the effects of prenatal depression on fetal growth. According to the authors, prenatal depression is likely to cause low-birth-weight and prematurity. If Sarah continues to have depression, it is likely that her baby will not be full-term and would have low-birth-weight. Furthermore, Shea, Kamath, Fleming, Streiner, and Redmond (2008) examined the effects of depression on heart rate variability. Without a doubt, Sara's depression was the cause of her miscarriage scare when she was three months. Overcoming her depression should be a priority to avoid any future complications.

Application of Kant's Categorical Imperative theory to the Dilemma

Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative can apply to Sara's dilemma. Doody (2014) asserted that Kant's categorical imperative stipulates that individuals should act according to their moral rule through which they can and will. As the author added, individuals should ask themselves, "what if everyone did this?" In the categorical imperative, Kant advises that individuals should not make an exception of themselves (Doody, 2014). In the categorical imperative, individuals should (1) formulate their maxim, (2) universalize the maxim into a law of nature, (3), imagine the maxim in such as world, and (4) establish the contradiction that arises when trying to will the maxim (Doody, 2014). Furthermore, in the categorical imperative, there is perfect and imperfect duty. In the perfect duty, people cannot think of maxim as a universal law without contradiction (Doody, 2014). Moreover, in the imperfect duty, people can conceive maxim as a universal law of nature, but it will contradict will (Doody, 2014). According to Kant, Maxims that fail the test give rise to either perfect or imperfect duty.

Kant's categorical imperative offers human beings a chance to reason the right thing to do, and what not to do, which gives rise to duty. In Sara's dilemma, she ought to decide what she would do between the two options to determine the rational thing to do to establish perfect duty. As Kant implies, by using the categorical imperative, an individual settles for an action that is objectively necessary apart from its relation to the further end (Doody, 2014). Sara might choose either of the two choices she has in mind as long as it is objective. Once she decisions on which route she will select, Sara needs to establish what would happen in the end. On a broader perspective, Kant's maxim is absolute and unconditional and does not depend on any other ulterior motive. The depression dilemma that Sara is facing is dumbfounding. Whatever choice she makes, the validity of her decision should not depend on what would happen in the end. From a personal perspective, the categorical imperative that would apply in this case is if Sara contacts her family to get help. Considering her financial situation, eviction, and failure to take care of her two children by herself, it would be the perfect duty to do so despite what would happen at the end.

Application of Utilitarian theory to the Dilemma

The utilitarianism approach endorses actions that maximize the happiness and well-being of the affected individuals. Byskov (2020) indicated that in utilitarianism, there is the act and rule approach. In considering utility, an individual should consider the direct and indirect consequences (Byskov, 2020). The author added that the act and rule utilitarianism are methods that help to meet the need for deciding, which utility a person ought to take.

Act Utilitarianism

The approach focuses on the utility it will produce. According to Byskov (2020), individuals do not consider a rational choice but acts according to past experiences that they adopt to guide their moral choice. The author mentioned that the act utilitarianism approach has several advantages. Some of them include it saves time, the choice favors the individual, and that it is a relief to individuals who have abstract thoughts. Undoubtedly, when a person chooses the act utilitarianism approach, it will produce the greatest happiness to a considerable number of people.

Rule Utilitarianism

In rule utilitarianism, each act has a rule. Byskov (2020) asserted that in rule utilitarianism, a person makes a moral choice based on its universalism. The author explained that in the approach, actions test rules and those rules by their consequences. More so, the rule utilitarianism approach has the capability of punishing the innocent because individuals act by rules that are present in society. The rule theory does not conflict with the moral judgments and rules that operate in society (Byskov, 2020). The author added that in the theory, moral maxims incline individuals to make decisions in a certain way that bind from their nature. Seemingly, in the rule utilitarianism, people have to justify their duties according to the expectations of society.

In Sara's case, her current situation requires her to choose between act and rule-utilitarianism to decide which of her choices will offer the greatest benefit. From a personal perspective, the best approach that Sara could take is to utilize act-utilitarianism. In her dilemma, she should decide to call her family and make peace with them. The choice would enable her to achieve the greatest good because she will have a house to take care of her children, have daily food for them, and overcome her depression in the long-run.

Discussion

Based on the two approaches, categorical imperative, and utilitarianism, the method that fits my preference is the latter. The reason is that in any decision a person makes, it should maximize the greatest good and benefit a huge number of people. The utilitarianism approach would be more beneficial to Sara because she would not have to consult to make decisions. In Sara's dilemma, only one of her choices is viable. I do not advocate for abortion, and rules in an operative society do not do that either. Besides that, taking her child to adoption is not a good decision because she can work and care for her children.

In light of that discussion, the best decision that Sara would take is to contact her family to help her with her financial, emotional, and mental situation. The reason is that it would achieve the greatest good and benefit for all the people around her. For instance, Sara's mental health would improve significantly because her family would help in taking care of her children until things get back to normal. Act utilitarianism would apply in the situation because it would help her to make a rational choice. The approach would favor Sarah because she it would reduce her depression and prevent her from thinking about abortion or adoption. Furthermore, it would save on time because if she chooses abortion and adoption, it would be a lengthy process and her depression might not end.

References

Bermejo-Pareja, F., Trincado, R., & J. Olazaran. (2013). Cumulative Effect of

Depression on Dementia Risk. International Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 2013. doi: 10.1155/2013/457175

Bransby T. (2018). Bo...