Protection of Conscience Project Library
Service, not Servitude
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Already we are finding that the impact of the Abortion Act is making great demands on hospital beds and operating time, and we agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Lewis’s statement to the effect that the whole character of the gynaecologist’s outpatient work has altered because of the numerous requests for termination at almost every session.
Soltau D, Baker W. (Correspondence) Abortions and Gynaecological Practice. Br Med J. 1969 Feb 22;1(5642):506-507.
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[suggests] the establishment of abortion clinics staffed by personnel adept at processing all cases referred. Doctors who claim conscientious objection could be assigned compensatory work in the present infertility clinics.
Seed P. (Correspondence) Requests for Abortion. Br Med J. 1968 Aug 24; 3(5616):499.
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patients requesting abortions are taking up considerable outpatient time, sidestepping our long waiting-lists, and occupying valuable hospital beds-all these at the expense of the genuine gynaecological patients. . . At a recent count, one in five of the patients in our wards are cases for termination of pregnancy. Their increasing numbers have been an embarrassment to many medical and nursing staff who have conscientious objections, especially those working in the operating- theatre.
Bagshaw H, Lee T, McAuley J. (Correspondence) Requests for Abortion. Br Med J. 1968;3(5616):499.
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Although the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists considers that most cases will be referred to N.H.S. hospitals and will come under the care of consultant gynaecologists, it is nevertheless probable that some will be admitted to ” a place approved for the purpose by the Ministry of Health or the Secretary of State,” and additionally may not come under the care of a trained and experienced obstetrician. Therein to my mind lies a danger to these women, as the numbers seeking abortion continues to increase and as hospital beds become so severely taxed as to necessitate delay in admission. The difference between the risks of the operation in the early weeks and in the weeks between the ninth and the fourteenth is considerable, and after this point an abdominal approach must be considered. . .
For these reasons, in my earlier letter I feared the possibility of panic measures leading to unethical surgery in inadequate surroundings (apart from authorized units) and stressed the need for the hospital consultant to be directly concerned in all cases.
Bailey KV. (Correspondence) Risks of Abortion. Br Med J. 1968;2(5604):557.
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It is difficult for the ordinary doctor like myself to understand the role of the G.M.C. as regards medical ethics. Its change in attitude over abortion would suggest that the law of the land takes precedence over medical ethics, for the present law permits abortion for non-medical reasons. Does this mean that the G.M.C. will maintain only those medical ethics which do not conflict with the law, and that laws permitting euthanasia and sterilization of the unfit would receive similar sanction ? There is surely a conflict here not only between the G.M.C. and individual doctors but between the G.M.C. and those medical ethics which have international recognition..
Sim M. (Correspondence) GMC and Abortion Act, 1967. Br Med J. 1968 May 4;2(5600):298.
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Surely a decision by Parliament in a democracy cannot be described as sinister ” superior orders” echoing Nuremberg 20 years ago (or rather what ended there and then). The boot could be argued to be on the other foot-namely, that doctors are prepared to dictate to the nation.
Crawford J. (Correspondence) Ethics and Abortion. Br Med J. 1968 Apr 20;2(5598):173.
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It will be interesting to learn, when the Representative Body takes its decisions, whether this ” official ” medical ethics will concede the right, sometimes even the duty, of the convinced dissenter to adopt the stand of conscientious objector. Or will the moral empire be essentially totalitarian in nature ?
Ferguson R. (Correspondence) Ethics and Abortion. Br Med J. 1968 April 20;2(5598):173.
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What the Act does is to make clear beyond doubt that termination of pregnancy is legal and that the decision to terminate or not should be left, as far as possible, to the clinical judgement of the doctors concerned, and that in reaching their decision doctors may take into account the effect of the patient’s total environment on her health.
Baird D. (Correspondence) Ethics and Abortion. Br Med J. 1968;2(5598):173.
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Bearing in mind the expense of caring for the disturbed unmarried mother and the unwanted child, abortion clinics might well prove to be more economical for the country generally.
Bird RG. (Correspondence) Requests for Abortion. Br Med J. 1968;1(5587):311.
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That the W.H.O. includes such a phrase [“well-being”] in their definition of mental health does not give it legal validity. Neither does it give it medical sanction, for W.H.O. definitions are notoriously unstable and liable to change, as is evidenced by those on alcoholism and drug addiction. There is no agreement on a definition of ” mental health ” in spite of national associations, institutes, and research funds devoted to its cause.
Sim M. (Correspondence) Abortion and Conscience. Br Med J. 1967 Dec 16;4(5580):684.