Project Administrator, Author at Protection of Conscience Project Library

(Correspondence) Le medecin et l’avortement

Lidia Maria Adamkiewicz

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
(Translation) I feel deeply upset after reading in The Gazette of June 28 that “C.M.A. Head Pledges Fight for Abortion “and especially since the leadership belongs to a woman I respect. I would like to point out that 3000 doctors from Quebec and 15,000 physicians from France have signed a declaration against abortion. This statement says that medicine remains at the service of life from the fertilization of a living being until his death. Protecting life is the role of the doctor.

Adamkiewicz LM. (Correspondence) Le medecin et l’avortement. Can Med Assoc J. 1974;111(4):307.

(Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion

Margaret S White

British Medical Journal, BMJ — British Medical Journal

Extract
It is true that the Nazis were opposed to abortion for “wanted Aryans” (they, like Miss Simms, were interested in eugenics), but any society, including our own, is judged by how it treats its “unwanted” people. Careful thought might determine whose beliefs are closest to the Nazis’ we all affect to despise.

White MS. (Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion. Br Med J. 1974 Jun 29;2(5921).

(Correspondence) Friends of Hippocrates

JR Bannister

Extract
I would like to draw to the attention of the readers of the Journal a new organization called the “Friends of Hippocrates”. It is an association of physicians and nurses pledged to defend the traditions enshrined in the Hippocratic Oath and to maintain the utmost respect for human life from the time of conception as set out in the 1948 Declaration of Geneva of the World Medical Association. . . . With most of the press, radio and television covertly or overtly supporting abortion, it is depressing to see the same slant becoming predominant in medical journals . . . I do not think it is possible to change this trend unless concerned physicians and nurses join together and express themselves firmly in large numbers. The Friends of Hippocrates could provide a voice for physicians and nurses who are opposed to abortion.

Bannister J. (Correspondence) Friends of Hippocrates. Can Med Assoc J. 1974;110(12):1337.

The ‘conscience clause’ and the law on abortion

Bernard M Dickens

Abstract not available

Dickens BM. The ‘conscience clause’ and the law on abortion. Nurs Times. 1974;70(25):968-969

(Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion

John Stallworthy

Extract
In the reorganized Health Service it should be easier than hitherto for adequate teams to provide a comnprehensive service in obstetrics and gynaecology if there is the necessary financial support. High ethical standards, conscience, and differing religious beliefs, when associated with freedom, of thought and expression within the fellowship of a team, can prove enriching for the doctors and therefore beneficial to the patients.

Stallworthy J. (Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion. Br Med J. 1974 Jun 01;2(5917):501.

(Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion

NA Chisholm

Extract
Conscience must be seen to have its positive face. The “conscience clause” cannot be regarded as merely a negative one allowing only the right of abstention from helping the distressed. It also entitles those who are humanly concerned enough to wish to do so the right to ensure, within the law, proper medical help for those who would otherwise pass into the hands of the backstreet abortionists, with all the awful consequences of this that Professor McLaren and I, and all our generation, know very well.

Chisholm N. (Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion. Br Med J. 1974 May 25;2(5916):441.

(Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion

Rex Binning

Extract
It is suggested by Professor H. C. McLaren (12 May, p. 329) that one termination of pregnancy every three months is all that a consultant “practising modern obstetrics, offering compassion and advice” should be doing. This statement is, with respect, that of someone living in another world.

Binning R. (Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion. Br Med J. 1974;2(5916):441.

(Points from Letters) Attitudes to Abortion

TJ Hypher

Extract
. . . I would submit that those who have the courage to stand by their convictions against substantial pressures will be among our most highly principled colleagues. We cannot afford to be without them, and indeed they and both our profession and our patients require that you give them your strongest support. You may not agree with their opinions, but if you do not champion their principles then we shall be in a sorry plight when each subsequent wave of emotion effects an Act in some kindred field.

Hypher TJ. (Points from Letters) Attitudes to Abortion. Br Med J. 1974 May 25;2(5916):448.

(Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion

GS Banwell

Extract
The right to conscientious objection is embodied in the Abortion Act, and the Lane Committee has not suggested that this section should be amended. It is difficult to understand why you advocate that a consultant gynaecologist, alone among surgical specialists, should be compelled to perform a particular operation other than on the basis of his own judgement. The right to conscientious objection to the performance of therapeutic abortion continues to be the law of the land. . . But it must remain the duty of the medical profession to protest that therapeutic abortion involves the destruction of human life.

Banwell G. (Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion. Br Med J. 1974;2(5915):383. Available from:

(Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion

JS Scott

Extract
You suggest that while a conscience clause was “manifestly essential” seven years ago, now “the situation has changed.”In what way? The extermination chambers of the Third Reich were no less of an affront to civilization at the end than they were at the beginning of their existence; the few who continued to speak against them were every bit as right ultimately as initially. Lest it be said that this is quite remote from the British abortion situation, I record that I have been faced with a healthy and affluent young woman demanding abortion”because the father is a Jew.” That the abortion was carried out, though not by me, may give some of your readers pause for thought.

Scott J. (Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion. Br Med J. 1974 May 11;2(5914):329-330.