Journal Correspondence Archives - Page 18 of 29 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

(Correspondence) Therapeutic abortion

WF Baldwin

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
I support Dr. Roseborough’s stand that most therapeutic abortions are essential, remedial and generally humane (Can Med Assoc J 111: 645, 1974) and I see no advantage in debating the issue further. . . . It has been my experience that sympathetic counselling combined with a few days’ delay results in a certain number of unwise or unwanted terminations being avoided. I do not deny (or mind) that some patients suffer anxiety from delay, but if termination of pregnancy in ambivalent patients is avoided, I believe the checks are valuable. . .My personal approach is that we must return to some form of sensible and responsible morality. Sex has now become one of the most discussed subjects of modern times. The Victorians pretended it did not exist at all, whereas the so-called moderns pretend nothing else exists. We have discarded the first attitude as being unrealistic and it is now time that we discarded the second.

Baldwin W. (Correspondence) Therapeutic abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1974;111(12):1299, 1301.

(Correspondence) CMA policy on abortion

CMAJ

Extract
While the CMA has recommended the removal of the requirement for hospital therapeutic abortion committees from the Criminal Code, it has supported the retention of the balance of sections 251 and 252. The purpose of this stand is to retain the more serious implications of a violation of the Criminal Code as compared with a violation of provincial medical acts regarding the performance of abortions by non-qualified persons or by qualified physicians outside approved hospitals. This policy also reflects the association’s opinion that some provincial medical acts, and the means of enforcing them, are less than adequate.

CMAJ. (Correspondence) CMA policy on abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1974 Nov 02;111(9):905.

(Correspondence) CMA policy on abortion

Wendell W Watters

Extract
The recent special report “Abortion: a review of CMA policy and positions” by D. A. Geekie (Can Med Assoc J ill: 474, 1974) has left many members of the CMA and many other Canadians with a feeling of confusion and a deep sense of betrayal. If this idiosyncratic interpretation of the CMA policy on abortion does reflect the official views of the organization, many physicians will seriously question their association with and participation in the activities of that body. . . .. We categorically reject Mr. Geekie’s interpretation of the CMA position on abortion, and demand that the executive of the organization repudiate this document and reissue a statement that clearly puts forth a rational statement of policy on abortion.

Watters WW. (Correspondence) CMA policy on abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1974 Nov 02;111(9):900-902.

(Correspondence) Inquiry into British law on abortion

PE Shea

Extract
Alan Massam’s article “Abortion Act gains outweigh drawbacks – British inquiry” (Can Med Assoc J 110: 1301, 1974) is a disturbing example of slanted journalism, aimed at further poisoning the minds of the bulk of doctors who sit on the fence in the abortion issue. . . .Mr. Massam, and apparently the inquiry, attempt to subtly convince us that abortion is a socially, morally, legally acceptable fact of life and we need only concern ourselves with its details. . . . Surely all our human rights are secondary to the right to life. This is the basic principle that the inquiry and Mr. Massam choose to ignore.

Shea P. (Correspondence) Inquiry into British law on abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1974 Sep 7;111(5):388.

(Correspondence) Le medecin et l’avortement

Lidia Maria Adamkiewicz

Extract
(Translation) I feel deeply upset after reading in The Gazette of June 28 that “C.M.A. Head Pledges Fight for Abortion “and especially since the leadership belongs to a woman I respect. I would like to point out that 3000 doctors from Quebec and 15,000 physicians from France have signed a declaration against abortion. This statement says that medicine remains at the service of life from the fertilization of a living being until his death. Protecting life is the role of the doctor.

Adamkiewicz LM. (Correspondence) Le medecin et l’avortement. Can Med Assoc J. 1974;111(4):307.

(Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion

Margaret S White

British Medical Journal, BMJ — British Medical Journal

Extract
It is true that the Nazis were opposed to abortion for “wanted Aryans” (they, like Miss Simms, were interested in eugenics), but any society, including our own, is judged by how it treats its “unwanted” people. Careful thought might determine whose beliefs are closest to the Nazis’ we all affect to despise.

White MS. (Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion. Br Med J. 1974 Jun 29;2(5921).

(Correspondence) Friends of Hippocrates

JR Bannister

Extract
I would like to draw to the attention of the readers of the Journal a new organization called the “Friends of Hippocrates”. It is an association of physicians and nurses pledged to defend the traditions enshrined in the Hippocratic Oath and to maintain the utmost respect for human life from the time of conception as set out in the 1948 Declaration of Geneva of the World Medical Association. . . . With most of the press, radio and television covertly or overtly supporting abortion, it is depressing to see the same slant becoming predominant in medical journals . . . I do not think it is possible to change this trend unless concerned physicians and nurses join together and express themselves firmly in large numbers. The Friends of Hippocrates could provide a voice for physicians and nurses who are opposed to abortion.

Bannister J. (Correspondence) Friends of Hippocrates. Can Med Assoc J. 1974;110(12):1337.

(Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion

John Stallworthy

Extract
In the reorganized Health Service it should be easier than hitherto for adequate teams to provide a comnprehensive service in obstetrics and gynaecology if there is the necessary financial support. High ethical standards, conscience, and differing religious beliefs, when associated with freedom, of thought and expression within the fellowship of a team, can prove enriching for the doctors and therefore beneficial to the patients.

Stallworthy J. (Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion. Br Med J. 1974 Jun 01;2(5917):501.

(Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion

NA Chisholm

Extract
Conscience must be seen to have its positive face. The “conscience clause” cannot be regarded as merely a negative one allowing only the right of abstention from helping the distressed. It also entitles those who are humanly concerned enough to wish to do so the right to ensure, within the law, proper medical help for those who would otherwise pass into the hands of the backstreet abortionists, with all the awful consequences of this that Professor McLaren and I, and all our generation, know very well.

Chisholm N. (Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion. Br Med J. 1974 May 25;2(5916):441.

(Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion

Rex Binning

Extract
It is suggested by Professor H. C. McLaren (12 May, p. 329) that one termination of pregnancy every three months is all that a consultant “practising modern obstetrics, offering compassion and advice” should be doing. This statement is, with respect, that of someone living in another world.

Binning R. (Correspondence) Attitudes to Abortion. Br Med J. 1974;2(5916):441.