Abortion Archives - Page 15 of 50 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

(Correspondence) Conscientious objection in medicine: Doctors’ freedom of conscience

Vaughn P Smith

British Medical Journal, BMJ — British Medical Journal

Extract
Since visiting Auschwitz, I have grappled with the question of how I would have behaved as a doctor in Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia. I hope I would have had the moral courage to refuse to participate in the various perversions of medicine that these regimes demanded — for example, respectively, eugenic “research” and psychiatric “treatment” of dissidents. . . . My chances of behaving honourably would have been
greatest if I had felt part of an independent medical profession with allegiance to something higher and more enduring than the regime of the day. They would have been least if Savulescu’s opinions had prevailed . . .After 30 years of reading the BMJ, Sava-
lescu’s article was the first one to make me feel physically sick.

Smith VP. (Correspondence) Conscientious objection in medicine: Doctors’ freedom of conscience. Br Med J. 2006 Feb 18;332(425)

Committee for the Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction and Women’s Health. Ethical guidelines on conscientious objection

Gamal I Serour, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO)

International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics

Abstract
The FIGO Committee for the Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction and Women’s Health held a combined meeting with the Committee of Women’s Sexual and Reproductive rights to discuss ethical aspects of issues that impact the discipline of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health. The following document represents the result of that carefully researched and considered discussion. This material is not intended to reflect an official position of FIGO, but to provide material for consideration and debate about these ethical aspects of our discipline for member organizations and their constituent membership.

Serour GI, FIGO. Committee for the Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction and Women’s Health. Ethical guidelines on conscientious objection. Int J Gyn Ob. 2006 Feb 03;92(3):333-334.

(Correspondence) The Celestial Fire of Conscience

Oswaldo Castro, Frederic A Lombardo, Victor R Gordeuk

New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM — New England Journal of Medicine

Extract
Real medical care and services always respect human
life. No one should be forced to collaborate in abortion (even when it is achieved through the prevention of implantation), lethal research on embryos, euthanasia, or assisted suicide.

Castro O, Lombardo FA, Gordeuk VR. (Correspondence) The Celestial Fire of Conscience. N Engl J Med. 2005 Sep 22;353(12):1301.

(Corrrespondence) Psychological aftermath of abortion (Two of the authors respond)

Sukhbir S Singh, William A Fisher

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
L.L. deVeber and Ian Gentles imply that termination of pregnancy causes psychological problems. However, pre-existing differences between women who seek abortion and those who carry pregnancies to term are considerable and may account for differences in psychological status after abortion or delivery. A relevant comparison would assess psychological distress experienced by women seeking and obtaining an abortion and those seeking but denied pregnancy termination. . . The research cited by deVeber and Gentles, however, fails to meet this standard. . . . There is no causal evidence that abortion alone elevates the risk of psychiatric admission. Observational evidence of such an association may be readily interpreted as resulting from confounding pre-existing factors.

Singh SS, Fisher WA. (Corrrespondence) Psychological aftermath of abortion (Two of the authors respond). Can Med Assoc J. 2005 Aug 30;173(5):467.

(Editorial) The sacred and the secular: the life and death of Terri Schiavo

CMAJ

Extract
. . . In medical and legal opinion, Terri Schiavo’s cognizance of her self and her life ended in 1990, when she suffered a cardiac arrhythmia and massive cerebral cortical encephalopathy that left her in a persistent vegetative state. Her facial expressions, along with a seemingly “normal” sleep–wake cycle, constituted but one dimension of the cruelty of this condition. . .

. . .More than one commentator has viewed the “right- to-life” fight to prolong Schiavo’s pitiable existence as an anti-abortion campaign “by other means.” . . .

. . . there seems little doubt that, in North America, ideology and religion have begun to seriously distort the type of consensus-building that is the proper business of democratic politics . . .

Where do physicians find themselves in such debates? Medicine is a secular and scientific profession that, for all that, must still contend with the sacred matters of birth, life and death. In practice, physicians must set aside their own beliefs in deference to the moral autonomy of each patient — or else transfer that patient’s care to someone who can meet this secular ethic. . .

. . .The emotionalism and rancour that swirled around the Schiavo case underscores a wider societal duty borne by the medical and scientific community. This is to remain alert to political and legislative tendencies that impose imprecise moral generalizations on the majority, at the expense of reason, scientific understanding and, not infrequently, compassion.

CMAJ. (Editorial) The sacred and the secular: the life and death of Terri Schiavo. Can. Med. Assoc. J.. 2005 Apr 26;172(9):1151.

(News) Abortion payment

Barbara Sibbald

Extract
The New Brunswick government is refusing to pay for abortions performed at private clinics, despite renewed warnings from Ottawa. Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh told the province it is violating the Canada Health Act . . . New Brunswick medicare only pays for abortions up to 12 weeks, performed in hospitals with the approval of 2 physicians. About 600 women a year pay up to 750 for the procedure at the Morgentaler clinic.

Sibbald B. Abortion payment. Can Med Assoc J. 2005 Mar 1;172(5):624.

(Correspondence) Not a middle-of-the-road position

Donald S Stephens

Extract
I cannot understand how Dr. Ursus can claim to have a “middle-of-the- road” position on abortion . . . however, by performing these procedures or referring patients for them, he’s chosen against his smaller, defenceless patients. He is on that side of the road.

Stephens DS. (Correspondence) Not a middle-of-the-road position. Can Med Assoc J. 2005 Feb 1;172(3):312.

Ethical analyses of vaccines grown in human cell strains derived from abortion: Arguments and Internet search

Richard Kent Zimmerman

Abstract
The fact that certain vaccines are grown in cell strains derived decades ago from an aborted fetus is a concern for some. To understand such concerns, a standardized search identified internet sites discussing vaccines and abortion. Ethical concerns raised include autonomy, conscience, coherence, and immoral material complicity. Two strategies to analyse moral complicity show that vaccination is ethical: the abortions were past events separated in time, agency, and purpose from vaccine production. Rubella disease during pregnancy results in many miscarriages and malformations. Altruism, the burden of rubella disease, and protection by herd immunity argue for widespread vaccination although autonomous decisions and personal conscience should be respected.

Zimmerman RK. Ethical analyses of vaccines grown in human cell strains derived from abortion: Arguments and Internet search. Vaccine. 2004 Oct 2004;22(31-32):4238-4244.

(News) Slow progress to reproductive rights

Jocalyn Clark

Extract
Religious fundamentalism and a lack of resources are the chief barriers to achieving sexual and reproductive rights for all by 2015, concluded the 2004 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) . . . Katherine McDonald, president of Action Canada for Population and Development, said that advocates of the Cairo consensus have been overly distracted by their efforts to isolate and shame US and conservative backlash and must reinvest in a commitment to human rights. “In-depth policy analyses of sexual, reproductive, and abortion rights are lacking,” she said.

Clark J. Slow progress to reproductive rights. Can Med Assoc J. 2004;171(8):841.

(New) “Abortion pill” use

Barbara Sibbald

Extract
Three years after the US government approved mifepristone (Mifeprex or RU-486), use of the so-called “abortion pill” has increased 70%. . . . Mifepristone, a progesterone blocker, induces abortion in women who are up to 8 weeks pregnant.

Sibbald B. “Abortion pill” use. Can Med Assoc J. 2004 Sep 28;171(7):718.