Chóngdé is a 16-year-old female who scheduled an appointment with a European American 40-year-old male clinical counselor. Chóngdé requested that this counseling session remain confidential and that her parents would not be made aware that she attended a counseling session. Chóngdés presenting concerns were physical and psychological symptoms which were impacting all areas of her life. Chóngdé reported to her counselor that since she found out that she was pregnant one week ago, she has had difficulty eating, wants to sleep excessively, has lost the desire to socialize with her friends, and feels very anxious that her parents will find out that she is pregnant. Chóngdé reported that she and her parents and grandparents immigrated from China to Ohio when she was 5 years old. She stated that her parents and grandparents still hold to the traditional Chinese ways. Chóngdé stated that she is very ashamed that she became pregnant for several reasons. First, she does not want to dishonor her family, especially her father. Secondly, she and her family are Buddhists and she knows she has not been following Buddhist ways. Thirdly, Chóngdé stated her name in Chinese means honors integrity and she feels she no longer deserves to have her name.
Chóngdé reported that since she started school, she has been a diligent student, performing academically at the top of her class. However, within the last week, she has not been motivated to complete her homework assignments and is quickly falling behind. This is another area in which she does not want to disappoint or dishonor
her family.
Chóngdés boyfriend, who is a 19-year-old African American male, wants her to have the baby and wants her to move into his home with him immediately. Although she loves her boyfriend, she stated that her feelings of shame and fear of dishonoring her family are the issues that are weighing heavily on her decision on how to proceed. She stated that although, she does not consider her family members to be racists, she knows that her family members would want her to date and marry a Chinese male.
Chóngdé tells her counselor that she has made the decision to have an abortion and has scheduled the appointment within the next week. Chóngdé begs her counselor not to tell her parents and states that if her parents would find out about her pregnancy, she has plans to kill herself.
The counselor tried to encourage Chóngdé to attend another counseling session and take some time to carefully consider her options, but Chóngdé stated she that she fully plan to follow through with the abortion within the next week.
Instructions:
After analyzing this case study, write an 8-10 page paper in the APA style format. Within this paper, identify the ethical dilemma. Identify and clearly describe each of the ethical, legal, professional, and multicultural issues in this case study. Also, write about the step-by-step process of case analysis of this ethical dilemma through the use of an ethical decision-making model. Use research-based information from professional counseling journal articles and books to support the information in this paper. Address each of the following issues: