Protection of Conscience Project Library
Service, not Servitude
Extract
If a mother decided to kill her newborn baby everyone would be shocked, but if she decides to kill the fetus before birth, say at 20 weeks, half of the country cheers.
Coffey PG. (Correspondence) Induced abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1989 Nov 01;141(9):869-870.
Extract
A recent survey of physicians’ opinions about abortion is proving to be almost as controversial as the abortion issue itself. The poll, which cost about $30,000 to conduct, was mailed to approximately 50, 000 doctors in August by an antiabortion organization called Canadian Physicians for Life (CPL). . . By mid-August both CMAJ and the CMA had begun receiving letters critical of the poll. “This is not a survey, this is a propaganda piece”, stated Dr. Michael Klein, a professor of family medicine at McGill University. . . A less angry, though equally critical, letter was sent by Dr. Peter Magner of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary. He said that CPL makes a “quite reasonable argument” that CMA members should be allowed to have their views reflected in association policy statements, but adds: “I was therefore dismayed by the gross bias of the accompanying multiple-choice questionnaire. . . .”
Sullivan P. Canadian Physicians for Life poll angers many physicians. Can Med Assoc J. 1989;141(7):705-706.
Extract
An ancient Chinese curse, “may you live in interesting times”, may turn out to be punishment for some of our misdeeds as the 20th century draws to a close. . . . Unless our society is willing to accept a compromise between the humane aspirations of pro- choice and the species priority of pro-life, we may be doomed to continue the cyclic alternation of dominant conservative and then liberal forces, as has been the case during the last several centuries. These interesting times may indeed be a curse.
Waugh D. When passion displaces logic. Can Med Assoc J. 1989 Oct 01;141(7):707.
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the most heated debate at the 122nd annual meeting didn’t come until its dying hours, when the abortion issue was raised in three separate recommendations put forward under new business. . . .The first recommendation, and the one that received the loudest criticism, was . . .”that many Canadian physicians do not agree with the 1988 CMA recommendations regarding induced abortion . . . the amended version was defeated by a large margin. . . . A recommendation that the CMA reassess its policy on induced abortion “with specific direction that the rights of the unbom child be considered” was referred to the Committee on Ethics, which is already working to establish a CMA policy on fetal rights.
Sullivan P. Attempts to change abortion policy find little support at annual meeting. Can Med Assoc J. 1989;141(6):585-596, 588, 590. Available from:
Extract
It is good that in their sympathetic article (Can Med Assoc J 1989; 140: 799-801, 805) Drs. Ruth Stirtzinger and G. Erlick Robinson remind us that “for [the mother] this has been the loss of a baby”. But in their review they incidentally say that in a group of women described by Simon and associates’ “there were no reported cases of psychiatric symptoms attributable to therapeutic abortion [emphasis mine]”. This statement is not made in the article quoted. Simon and associates wrote that “the amount of psychopathology seen following spontaneous abortion over the same 10 year follow-up period is minor when compared to the therapeutic abortion group”.
de Bellefeuille P. (Correspondence) The psychologic effects of spontaneous abortion. Can. Med. Assoc. J.. 1989;141(6):508-511.
Extract
Apart from such simple principles as the Golden Rule and the Greatest Good for the Greatest Number of People, what universal moral principles are there? Apparently Lemoine’s value system would compel unwilling pregnant women to become mothers against their will (the view of the Roman Catholic Church and other antichoice groups); this is in direct opposition to the position that couples should be allowed to regulate their own reproductivity, the view of the United Nations declaration on family planning, to which Canada was a signatory. Neither of these moral positions is universal or based on absolutes. The first arose out of the Christian Church’s desire to implement policies of demographic aggression against all other groups. The second arose in this century out of our collective appreciation that such policies may spell extinction for all forms of life on this planet. Many of the bloodiest episodes in history came about as a result of one group’s seeking to impose “universal” moral principles on others.
Watters WW. (Correspondence) “Universal” moral principles. Can Med Assoc J. 1989 May 01;140(9):1016.
Extract
In his article “Abortion: The CMA’s new policy is a good one” (Can Med AssocJ 1988; 139: 991) Dr. John Lamont misinterprets the Catholic Church’s constant moral teaching on this critical issue. The misinformation could promote prejudice against Catholics who uphold the traditional doctrine that abortion at any stage is a serious sin against God, the creator of all human life. Lamont’s pontifical reference could not have been authenticated by a qualified Catholic scholar.
Shea PE. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1989 Apr 1;140(7):789.
Extract
[Translation] It is obvious that the policy does not appeal to the majority of physicians. They would prefer a regime where the life and health of the child are respected and protected in the same way as those of the mother. It is not about a choice between the two.
de Bellefeuille P. (Correspondence) L’avortement. Can Med Assoc J. 1989;140(6):585-586.
Abstract
This paper uses the Churches’ responses to the controversy over abortion as a measure of the internalization of ecumenism. The data used in the essay include interviews with ecumenical officers and the minutes of the American Bishops Pro-life Committee. The main conclusion is that during the controversy “mainstream” Protestantism and Roman Catholicism reverted to post-Reformation and pre-Vatican II ideological roles, with Catholicism opposing under the banner of objective moral truth the legalization of abortion and liberal Protestantism under the banner of subjective conscience providing a belated religious justification to the legalization promoted first by secularist activists. This reversal to historic ideological roles actually distorted the more nuanced positions of these Churches in the controversy, but the lack of an ecumenical context obscured these shared tensions and prevented the Churches from contributing to a better public structuring of the moral ambiguities most Americans felt and still experience about abortion and the extent of its legalization. The essay concludes that only in an ecumenical context can religious pluralism lead to more inclusive moral commitments rather than to a further privatization of religion.
Kelly J. Ecumenism and Abortion: A Case Study of Pluralism, Privatization and Public Conscience. Rev Relig Res. 1989 Mar;30(3):225-235.
Extract
Rapp is using words in an incorrect way to hide from himself what is happening. An oak (or any seed) dies and the germ plasm begins to develop. A fetus is already growing and developing and, if Rapp wishes an analogy, is like a seedling.
Cody PC. (Correspondence) Potential danger. Can Med Assoc J. 1989 Jan 15;140(2):105.