Abortion Archives - Page 41 of 51 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

Impact on hospital practice of liberalizing abortions and female sterilizations

A David Clayman, John R Wakeford, John MM Turner,Brian Hayden

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

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.

(Correspondence) Obstetric Appointments and the Abortion Act

JA Stallworthy

British Medical Journal, BMJ — British Medical Journal

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.

Legalized abortion: the conscience clause and coercion

D Cavanaugh

No abstract available.

Cavanaugh D. Legalized abortion: the conscience clause and coercion. Hosp. Prog. 1971;52(8):86-90.

(Editorial) The abortion situation

CMAJ

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.

(Correspondence) Obstetric Appointments and the Abortion Act

HP Dunn

Extract
I would be grateful if readers would let me know if reports we hear about British hospital practice are factual or not. We are told that candidates for obstetrical and gynaecological posts are first asked if they will co-operate in the abortion programme of that hospital, and their selection depends on the answer to this question.. .

Dunn H. (Correspondence) Obstetric Appointments and the Abortion Act. Br Med J. 1971 May 22;2(5759):464. Available from:

(Correspondence) L’avortement therapeutique (French)

Et Borreman

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.

(Correspondence) Therapeutic abortion

Cezar Heine

Extract
. . . Is the fetus entitled to the same protection as the adult human being? . . . I would challenge any reader to define a human being in any other way than in such relational terms as mother, son, wife or neighbour; only as we relate to people in these terms do we come to know who we are. Psychological or biological definitions are singularly inapt for this purpose. . . .

Heine C. (Correspondence) Therapeutic abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1971 March 6;104(5):421.

(Correspondence) Therapeutic abortion in a Canadian city

JG Stapleton

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.

(Correspondence) Abortion

Arthur ME Kennedy

Extract
The appearance of the two letters on abortion in sequence in the Journal . . . illustrated the diverging ethics of the members and future members of our profession. Reading the letter by Dr. Heine was indeed like feeling a breath of fresh unpolluted air in the smog of today’s confused thinking. . . .How different was the letter by the President of the Medical Students’ Society of McGill University stating the unanimous opinion of their Executive Council.

Kennedy AM. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1971 Jan 09;104(1):70.

(Correspondence) Abortion

WG Burrows

Extract
I cannot believe that the majority of physicians in Canada really couldn’t care less about such vital problems as the unwanted pregnancy and its reaction on the subsequent mental health of the mother (and unwanted child), not to mention the increasing threat to our way of life from overpopulation. I can only conclude that it is the wish not to be involved which permits major decisions to be swayed by a small but vocal group of religious bigots -sincere, well-meaning, God-fearing people, no doubt, but bigots just the same in that they seek to enforce the attitudes and wishes of a minority upon the majority.

Burrows W. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1970;103(12):1316.