Abortion Archives - Page 29 of 51 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

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.

Retention of products of conception after therapeutic abortion

Ellen R Wiebe

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
Failure to remove all the products of conception during a therapeutic abortion is an acknowledged complication whose incidence increases with increased gestational age. In the following case, symptoms of an incomplete abortion were experienced for 2 1/2 years after the abortion.

Wiebe ER. Retention of products of conception after therapeutic abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1986 Mar 1;134(5):505.

The abortion of thinking

Paul de Bellefeille

Extract
The Canadian Medical Association’s policy summary on abortion must be questioned. Although the summary may represent the consensus of some people at the executive level, it does not correspond to the views of the majority of CMA members. . . . medical problems require medical solutions; and when an expectant mother has medical difficulties the medical solution in good contemporary obstetrics is almost never termination of the pregnancy. The solution to socioeconomic problems must also be socioeconomic. To propose medical solutions for socioeconomic problems, and destructive ones at that, is illogical and shows a sad lack of confidence in our society’s ability to care for its own.

de Bellefeille P. The abortion of thinking. Can Med Assoc J. 1986;134(2):115-117.

(Correspondence) “The Silent Scream”: setting the record straight

Carlos Del Campo

Extract
A newsbrief in CMAJ 1985;132:1301) criticizing the videotape “The Silent Scream” failed to report the opinion of a highly qualified expert. Dr. Ian Donald, the original developer of diagnostic ultrasonography, former Regius professor of obstetrics at the University of Glasgow and honorary research consultant at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, spent 4 years filming fetal activity at various stages of gestation. Donald, in a sworn affidavit, wrote: “I have now studied Dr. Nathanson’s video-tape film entitled ‘The Silent Scream’ not less than four times and affirm that I am of the opinion that the fetal activities depicted by ultrasound real- time scanning in this film are not faked [or] the result of artefact intentional or otherwise”.

Campo CD. (Correspondence) “The Silent Scream”: setting the record straight. Can Med Assoc J. 1985 Sep 15;133(6):556-557.

(Correspondence) “The Silent Scream”: setting the record straight

J Kohari

Extract
No doubt several Ottawa gynecologists were shocked by the stark reality of the ultrasound images of abortion shown in “The Silent Scream”. The film can be called propaganda, but since there is no proof that it is a fake it is called a documentary. The gynecologists never questioned the reality of the procedure, so why do they label it dishonest?

Kohari J. (Correspondence) “The Silent Scream”: setting the record straight. Can Med Assoc J. 1985 Sep 15;133(6):557.

Abortion (Policy Statement)

Canadian Medical Association

Abstract
The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) recognizes that there is justification for abortion on medical and nonmedical socioeconomic grounds and that such an elective surgical procedure should be decided upon by the patient and the physician(s) concerned. Ideally, the service should be available to all women on an equitable basis across Canada. CMA has recommended the removal of all references to hospital therapeutic abortion committees as outlined in the Criminal Code of Canada. The Criminal Code would then apply only to the performance of abortion by persons other than qualified physicians or in facilities other than approved or accredited hospitals. The Canadian Medical Association is opposed to abortion on demand or its use as a birth control method, emphasizing the importance of counselling services, family planning facilities and services, and access to contraceptive information. . . the association also supports the position that no hospital, physician or other health care worker should be compelled to participate in the provision of abortion services if it is contrary to their beliefs or wishes. CMA also recommended that a patient should be informed of physicians’ moral or religious views restricting their recommendation for a particular form of therapy.

Canadian_Medical_Association. Abortion (Policy Statement). Can Med Assoc J. 1985 Aug 15;133(4):318.

(Correspondence) The tragedy of abortion

Luis Huaypaya

Extract
Cook and Howe (Can Med Assoc J 1984; 131: 539) state that “a possible tragedy was avoided” by recommending an abortion to a pregnant woman with schizophrenia. What constitutes a tragedy may be considered from different perspectives, and I would like to suggest an alternative view. It can be considered a tragedy that many well-intentioned health professionals believe that suppressing a life is an appropriate way of preventing human suffering. . . that many childless couples have to wait years to adopt while thousands of potentially adoptable children . . . are prevented from being born . . .

Huaypaya L. (Correspondence) The tragedy of abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1985 Jan 15;132(2):93-96.

(Correspondence) Abortion denied – outcome of mothers and babies

Carlos Del Campo

Extract
The Aberdeen study examined the cases of 300 women applying for abortions, of which 60% were approved; approximately 120 women were denied abortion. This number would constitute only 1.9% of the 6323 cases in my survey. Furthermore, if they had been included the results would remain statistically unchanged. . . Dr. Watters states that I was “very selective in examining the work done in Czechoslovakia” and cites the work of Matejcek and colleagues.3 I direct Dr. Watters’ attention to reference 11 in my survey, in which this work is cited. This was Dr. Matejcek and colleagues’ original publication on the same group of patients; furthermore, they published a more recent follow-up study, in which their original findings remained basically unchanged. To base a therapeutic approach toward women with unwanted pregnancies on the evidence quoted by Dr. Watters and to ignore the massive evidence presented in my survey would be unacceptable.

Campo CD. (Correspondence) Abortion denied – outcome of mothers and babies. Can Med Assoc J. 1984 Sep 15;131(6):546-548.

(Correspondence) Abortion denied – outcome of mothers and babies

Wendell W Watters

Extract
Apparently Dr. Carlos Del Campo (Can Med Assoc J 1984; 130: 361, 362, 366) consulted only a small portion of the literature in concluding that it shows “no evidence that a continued unwanted pregnancy will endanger the mother’s mental health”. He ignored the Aberdeen study, . . .Dr. Del Campo was very selective in examining the work done in Czechoslovakia. . . the conclusion to be drawn from these studies is that termination of an unwanted pregnancy is likely to be beneficial to a woman’s mental health if it is her choice to exercise this option, whereas mandatory motherhood is likely to be harmful to her mental health. This conclusion is consistent with my clinical experience of 20 years in working with couples and families, as it is with that of many other family psychiatrists.

Watters WW. (Correspondence) Abortion denied – outcome of mothers and babies. Can Med Assoc J. 1984 May 15;130(10):1264, 1266.

(Editorial) Abortion denied – outcome of mothers and babies

Carlos Del Campo

Extract
The children of women who have been denied an abortion are at risk of certain disadvantages, but such problems could be alleviated by better adoption and social programs. Since well educated women have the most “liberal” attitudes towards abortion’4 and are the least likely to have economic reasons for wanting an abortion, programs to prevent abortion should be directed towards changing their attitudes. Also, women who have been denied abortion should be followed up, both for the child’s sake and to prevent further requests for abortion.

Campo CD. (Editorial) Abortion denied – outcome of mothers and babies. Can Med Assoc J. 1984 Feb 15;130(4):361-362, 366.