Abortion Archives - Page 28 of 51 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

(Correspondence) Abortion: Is it time for doctors to get off the fence? Dr. Sim responds

Myre Sim

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
All medical procedures should have proper medical indications; and when these indications are being abused strict guidelines are laid down by the profession; those who ignore them are censured. . . .Bart would have abortion specifically excluded from such guidelines, yet abortion carries certain death for the fetus as well as hazards for the pregnant woman. Medical ethics are specifically designed to curb unwholesome and dangerous medical practices. . . abortion on nonmedical grounds, which includes most, is a male- inspired maneuver. . .

Sim M. (Correspondence) Abortion: Is it time for doctors to get off the fence? Dr. Sim responds. Can Med Assoc J. 1988 Jun 15;139(4):1085.

(Correspondence) Abortion: Is it time for doctors to get off the fence?

John Bart

Extract
I was present at the death of a woman whose uterus had been torn open and infected by a coat hanger. Anything is better than that: she died through poverty and ignorance, and her whole family suffered. . . .Medical ethics are an extension of personal ethics, not an abstract entity with a special name. I believe what I believe, and he believes what he believes. Sim should not force his opinions upon others. That is what the Nazis did. . . . We are not on the fence, Dr. Sim. We are exercising our free will and not interfering with that of others. We believe that women are capable of decisions without an avuncular physician’s approval. We think that freedom from unwanted pregnancy is a cornerstone of feminine freedom. Without that, society is male dominated, unequal and the poorer for it. Please do not equate abortion with euthanasia. The two are not synonymous. Please do not equate your opinion with moral rectitude either. Anything is better than that.

Bart J. (Correspondence) Abortion: Is it time for doctors to get off the fence? Can Med Assoc J. 1988;139(4):1085.

(Correspondence) “Pro-abortion” versus “pro-choice”

Brian A Shamess

Extract
Although he may feel uncomfortable about being involved in abortions, the term “pro-abortion” is accurate. The term “pro-choice”, medically speaking, refers to a choice between killing a fetus and allowing it to live. The fetus is distinct in every way from the mother. . . . This is a medical fact. Therefore, doctors who perform abortions and the staff of abortion clinics are “pro-abortion”. Certainly they are “pro-choice” as well, in that they will allow a woman to choose between killing and granting life to the unborn child. . .

Shamess BA. (Correspondence) “Pro-abortion” versus “pro-choice”. Can Med Assoc J. 1988 May 15;138(10):890.

(News) Dr. Robbie Mahood: Pro-choice physician says doctors have a duty to speak out

Patrick Sullivan

Extract
While physicians opposed to abortion have responded with articles . . . most doctors from the pro-choice side have remained quiet. Dr. Robbie Mahood is an exception. . . . “I certainly don’t support abortion as a method of birth control”. Has the abortion issue creat- ed divisions in the medical profession? “Certainly there is disagreement within the profession about this, but this probably reflects the division within the general population”, Mahood said. “I would guess that there is a pro-choice majority [among physicians].”

Sullivan P. Dr. Robbie Mahood: Pro-choice physician says doctors have a duty to speak out. Can Med Assoc J. 1988;138(8):734. Available from:

Abortion: it is time for doctors to get off the fence

Myre Sim

Extract
When Germany occupied Holland during the Second World War, it declared that it would introduce its Nuremberg Laws. They allowed for the sterilization and liquidation of the “unfit” and other acts that were later declared crimes against humanity. . . .Dutch physicians declared that they had to accept the fact they were living in an occupied country during wartime and were, therefore, bound by certain laws, but they reaffirmed their responsibility to respect all human life. They would not yield on the issue. . . . Dutch doctors preserved their ethical code. . . .[a] medical procedure [that] involves the destruction of human life. . . strikes at the roots of medical ethics: respect for human life. I consider abortion on demand the precursor of euthanasia on demand. . . Are doctors to wait to see which way things are going before they decide which path to follow, or should they take a lead in restoring honour to the profession?

Sim M. Abortion: it is time for doctors to get off the fence. Can Med Assoc J. 1988 Apr 15;138(8):742-743.

(News) New committee will review CMA’s abortion policy, board decides

Lucian Blair

Extract
The CMA will establish an ad hoc committee to review the association’s abortion policy in the wake of the Supreme Court of Canada’s Jan. 28 ruling that over- turned Criminal Code restrictions on abortion.

Blair L. (News) New committee will review CMA’s abortion policy, board decides. Can Med Assoc J. 1988;138(7):643.

(News) The abortion issue in Newfoundland: a province divided

Barbara Yaffe

Extract
The adjectives range from “bloody outrageous” to “appalling and disgusting”, for just about no one is satisfied with a therapeutic abortion service that annually prompts hundreds of Newfoundland women to leave the province to get abortions. . . many women cannot get abortions in Newfoundland, in part because most of the province’s doctors won’t perform them, and in part because community standards are conservative. . . Dr. Carl Robbins, medical director of the General Hospital, thinks local doctors are unwilling to perform abortions because of personal conviction and the influence of values developed while training.

Yaffe B. The abortion issue in Newfoundland: a province divided. Can Med Assoc J. 1987 Apr 15;136(8):865-866.

(Correspondence) Newfoundland has no legal abortion services

Louis A Aubé

Extract
Dr. Carl Robbins finds the fact that abortions are not available in his province “disgraceful, bordering on the unethical” (Can Med Assoc J 1986; 135: 910). He must be a young man, because it wasn’t long ago that it was disgraceful for a doctor to do abortions – besides which, it was a crime. As for Dr. Robbins’ call to ethics, I wonder what he is using for the basis of his code. Certainly not the Judeo-Christian formula. It must be the new “situation ethics”, which as applied to our general conduct is producing frightening results.

Aubé LA. (Correspondence) Newfoundland has no legal abortion services. Can Med Assoc J. 1987;136(4):324.

(Correspondence) Abortion: an issue that won’t go away

Ernest A Johnson

Extract
I have, as I am sure do many doctors, a framed version of the Hippocratic Oath prominently and proudly displayed in my waiting room. . . I had a very busy general medical and surgical practice, and during that time it was understandably considered ethical to do a truly therapeutic abortion when this very occasional truly medical necessity arose. . . .Times have changed, but there are some things that cannot change if we are to retain our self-respect as professionals.

Johnson EA. (Correspondence) Abortion: an issue that won’t go away. Can Med Assoc J. 1986 Nov 15;135(10):1062-1064.

Prenatal diagnosis and female abortion: a case study in medical law and ethics

Bernard M Dickens

Abstract
Alarm over the prospect that prenatal diagnostic techniques, which permit identification of fetal sex and facilitate abortion of healthy but unwanted female fetuses has led some to urge their outright prohibition. This article argues against that response. Prenatal diagnosis permits timely action to preserve and enhance the life and health of fetuses otherwise endangered, and, by offering assurance of fetal normality, may often encourage continuation of pregnancies otherwise vulnerable to termination. Further, conditions in some societies may sometimes render excusable the inclination to abort certain healthy female fetuses. In places where abortion for fetal sex alone is recognised as unethical, however, medical licensing authorities already possess the power to discipline, for professional misconduct, physicians who prescribe or perform prenatal diagnosis purely to identify fetal sex, or those who disclose fetal sex when that is unrelated to the fetus’s medical condition.

Dickens BM. Prenatal diagnosis and female abortion: a case study in medical law and ethics. J Med Ethics 1986 Sep; 12(3): 143-144.