Protection of Conscience Project Library
Service, not Servitude
Extract
Since my earlier letter in the August 7 issue of the Journal, (p. 240) some additional information has been received which supports the use of the “morning after pill.” Sarrel at Yale reports only one pregnancy in about 1000 cases given 50 mg. of diethylstilbestrol daily for five days within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse.
Ball MJ. (Correspondence) The “morning-after” pill. Can Med Assoc J. 1971;105(7):691.
Extract
A course of post-coital estrogens, in adequate dosage, is a highly effective and safe (though misnamed) form of post-coital contraception that deserves to be more widely known and prescribed. Both unwanted pregnancies and the demand for abortion could be reduced by its widespread use in emergency situations.
Ball MJ. (Correspondence) The “morning-after pill”. Can Med Assoc J. 1971;105(3):240.
Extract
I am afraid, therefore, that the potential trainee with a conscientious objection to abortion must face the fact that even if he is fortunate enough to obtain trainee posts in units where his conscience can be respected, he will still have to face the fact at the end of his training, that if he does not obtain a post in a large teaching unit, he is likely to have to face the choice of either leaving the specialty or the country.
Carr CJ. (Correspondence) Obstetric Appointments and the Abortion Act. Br Med J. 1971 Jul 31;3(5769):305.
Extract
It is reported that over 90,000 pregnancies in Britain are now terminated annually and this must place a considerable extra burden on the already overstretched resources of the N.H.S., resulting in even longer delays for those women needing other forms of gynaecological surgery. Some young hospital doctors and nurses who wish to gain experience in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology are discouraged from doing so by the pressures which would inevitably be put upon them to assist at, or perform, abortions.
Allan E, Taylor P, Walker K, Fisher M, Nixon J, Spencer G. (Correspondence) Working of the Abortion Act. Br Med J. 1971;305.
Abstract
The number of therapeutic abortions performed at the Vancouver General Hospital in 1969 was double the average number for the previous four years and in 1970 the total reached 1465. The more liberal attitude towards abortion has resulted in a decided reduction in the number of children available for adoption in the community. This policy has required a streamlining of the duties of the Therapeutic Abortion Committee and an alteration in the pattern of bed and operating-room utilization. By far the greatest number of abortions were performed on psychiatric-social grounds. The complication rate of 17% was influenced chiefly by the advanced duration of the gestation in a high proportion of cases. Gynecologists and hospitals must be prepared to assume their altered role in providing abortion and sterilization in today’s society.
Clayman AD, Wakeford JR, Turner JMM, Hayden B. Impact on hospital practice of liberalizing abortions and female sterilizations. Can Med Assoc J. 1971 Jul 10;105(1):35-41, 83.
Extract
. . . man’s right to live and work according to the dictates of conscience is an asset precious to him and medicine itself. Because of their religious conviction two senior members of this division of obstetrics and gynaecology do not perform abortions. . . If when they leave . . . they can be replaced by men or women of equal calibre Oxford will be fortunate. The integrity, experience, skill, and potential of applicants for these posts will be more important than their willingness to terminate pregnancy.
Stallworthy J. (Correspondence) Obstetric Appointments and the Abortion Act. Br Med J. 1971 Jul 10 3(5766):108.
No abstract available.
Cavanaugh D. Legalized abortion: the conscience clause and coercion. Hosp. Prog. 1971;52(8):86-90.
Extract
One certainty at least about the situation as regards the liberalization of abortion in Canada is that the problem it presents is not going to go away. . . . one cannot but conclude that the dilemma posed by this state of affairs cannot be dismissed by the ingemination of ready-made phrases such as “rights of the fetus” and “reverence for life”, no matter how respectable these may sound. One suspects that sometimes such phrases are used to rationalize inflexible attitudes and spare a probing of deeper motivation. In some instances they may well suffice for individual physicians who wish to dissociate themselves completely from the issue. But they will not satisfy society at large, to whom another set of slogans (“every baby a wanted baby” and “a woman has the right to the control of her own body”) has a stronger appeal. . . Has not the time come, therefore, for society, including the medical profession, to admit the state of affairs that prevails and face up to its obligations? . . . No serious person believes that abortion should be considered as an alternative to the regular practice of birth control. The by-no-means negligible morbidity associated with abortion and the occasional fatality, apart from the demands it makes on hospital and medical staff, make it much too costly when simple means of conception control are readily available. . . the escape from this dilemma is not in saying that birth control should have been used. . . [advocates sex education as described in Brave New World]. . . as long as human beings are sometimes careless and irresponsible, even if they are no longer ignorant, unwanted pregnancy will occur and the question of its termination, if we have the respect for motherhood we profess, will have to be faced.
CMAJ. (Editorial) The abortion situation. Can Med Assoc J. 1971 May 22;104(10):941.
Extract
Concerning the problem of abortion several articles of which have since appeared some time in the Journal, personally I defend the right to the life of a human being, even if he is only a few days old, is innocent and cannot defend himself.
Borreman E. (Correspondence) L’avortement therapeutique (French). Can Med Assoc J. 1971;104(5):421.
Extract
The two cases described by Dr. Boyce belong to two very different categories and probably should not be associated even for statistical purposes because of the vast difference between x-ray exposures resulting from diagnostic procedures and therapeutic applications. . . Hence my point: radiation received in x-ray diagnosis is not a valid reason for therapeutic abortion.
Stapleton J. (Correspondence) Therapeutic abortion in a Canadian city. Can Med Assoc J. 1971;104(1):70.