Abortion Archives - Page 39 of 49 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

(Correspondence) Abortion

Wena VP Williams

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
In the 20th century it is unrealistic to teach children that babies are made through acts of sexual intercourse and not to teach them when they become adolescents how to make love without making an unwanted baby. . . Contraceptives should be easily available to every boy and girl who is sexually active and responsible enough to admit it by seeking birth control. . . .It is socially irresponsible for a doctor to condemn a girl for asking for the pill, or to refuse it to her in the hope that it will stop her from having sexual intercourse . . . . He must also know that his denial of the pill to a girl forces her to adopt less effective methods of birth control or to use no method at all, and that when she subsequently becomes pregnant and asks for abortion the blame is as much his as it is that of the girl or her boyfriend.

Williams WV. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1974 Feb 02;110(3):261-262.

(Correspondence) Abortion and the pregnant teenager

Philip E Shea

Extract
The article “Abortion and the pregnant teenager” by Lipper et al (Can Med Assoc J 109: 852, 19173) is one of a series of articles which abortion clinics will undoubtedly produce in an effort to justify their actions. My initial reaction was to pick at the many inconsistencies in the article . . .But then it seemed that in doing so I was missing the point. The authors have many figures and graphs to demonstrate their findings. It is all so cold and scientific – so pat. But they have left out one fact which is of paramount importance and renders all the others meaningless: 100% of the babies died.

Shea PE. (Correspondence) Abortion and the pregnant teenager. Can Med Assoc J. 1974 Jan 19;110(2):143.

(Correspondence) Abortion

RM Clare

Extract
In June 1971 the Canadian Medical Association at its General Council meeting passed the following resolution after some hours of lively debate: “The Canadian Medical Association agrees that there is justification, on non-medical grounds, for the deliberate termination of pregnancy.” The vote was 78 for and 74 against, a majority of 4 votes in 152 or 2.6%. . . . The difference between a pagan society and a Christian society is being eroded and we as a traditionally Christian society are rapidly reverting to a pagan one where self-indulgence without restraint, without responsibility, is the order of the day.

Clare R. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1973 Dec 01;109(11):1081-1082.

(Correspondence) Conscientious Objection to Abortion

Robert L Walley

British Medical Journal, BMJ — British Medical Journal

Extract
In the eight years since graduating from a London teaching hospital I have managed to do the “right jobs,” get the required fellowship and membership, and even obtained the B.T.A. (Been To America). However, I now discover that to have a conscientious objection to abortion on demand precludes one from continuing to practise in the specialty in this country. The head of department of a teaching hospital stated to me at a recent appointments board that there was now no place for a gynaecologist with a conscientious objection to abortion on demand to practise within the National Health Service and “you should cut your losses and emigrate.” . . . I have personal knowledge of six other doctors in a similar case who have either left the country or have been forced to enter general practice.

Walley RL. (Correspondence) Conscientious Objection to Abortion. Br Med J. 1972;4(5834):234.

(Correspondence) Iatrogenic pregnancy

Michael J Ball

Extract
On a number of occasions in the past year I have referred patients for therapeutic abortion where pregnancy had occurred following temporary discontinuation of oral contraceptives on medical advice. . . Last year the Medical Handbook of the International Planned Parenthood Federation was distributed widely to Canadian physicians by the Department of National Health and Welfare. In this authoritative source it is stated: “The earlier views, that oral contraceptives should not be used for more than two (later changed to four) years without a break are no longer tenable.”

Ball MJ. (Correspondence) Iatrogenic pregnancy. Can Med Assoc J. 1972;107(8):727. Available from:

Outpatient management of first trimester therapeutic abortions with and without tubal ligation

JA Collins, HH Allen, AA Yuzpe

Abstract
In busy hospitals the increasing numbers of abortions must be performed without disturbing other hospital functions. Local anesthesia, vaginal tubal ligation and the use of outpatient beds are the operative and administrative adaptations described. Of 1545 abortions performed in Victoria Hospital, London, in 1971, 428 (32%) were done under local anesthesia; 14 of these patients also had vaginal tubal ligation under local anesthesia. There were 405 sterilizations (26.2%) among this group of patients, of which 390 (96.3%) were vaginal tubal ligations. Of the total number, 891 (57.7%) were dealt with as outpatients and these comprised 62.0% of patients having therapeutic abortion only, and 46.7% of patients having tubal sterilization as well as abortion.

Collins JA, Allen H, Yuzpe A. Outpatient management of first trimester therapeutic abortions with and without tubal ligation. Can Med Assoc J. 1972 May 20;106():1077-1080.

(Editorial) Issues of Conscience

Thelma M Schorr

Extract
The reality of the situation is that since 1966, with the liberalization of abortion laws in a number of states, the number of abortion patients has been steadily increasing. This means that an increasing number of patients will seek care that most nurses have not been educated to render. . . . There are many nurses who see an abortion as an unconscionable act, and certainly they should never be placed in the position of having to nurse patients who have chosen to have their pregnancy terminated. Just as a patient’s freedom to choose must be respected, so must a nurse’s. But it is also that nurse’s responsibility to protect both the patient’s freedom and her own by refusing to work in a situation which she finds morally offensive.

Schorr TM. (Editorial) Issues of Conscience. Am J Nurs. 1972 Jan;72(1):61.

(Correspondence) The “morning-after pill”

Michael J Ball

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.

(Correspondence) Obstetric Appointments and the Abortion Act

Conor J Carr

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.

(Correspondence) Working of the Abortion Act

E Allan, Phyllis Taylor, Kirsten Walker, MS Fisher, John Nixon, GR Spencer

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.