Journal Correspondence Archives - Page 21 of 29 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

(Correspondence) Abortion

Arthur ME Kennedy

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
The appearance of the two letters on abortion in sequence in the Journal . . . illustrated the diverging ethics of the members and future members of our profession. Reading the letter by Dr. Heine was indeed like feeling a breath of fresh unpolluted air in the smog of today’s confused thinking. . . .How different was the letter by the President of the Medical Students’ Society of McGill University stating the unanimous opinion of their Executive Council.

Kennedy AM. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1971 Jan 09;104(1):70.

(Correspondence) Abortion

WG Burrows

Extract
I cannot believe that the majority of physicians in Canada really couldn’t care less about such vital problems as the unwanted pregnancy and its reaction on the subsequent mental health of the mother (and unwanted child), not to mention the increasing threat to our way of life from overpopulation. I can only conclude that it is the wish not to be involved which permits major decisions to be swayed by a small but vocal group of religious bigots -sincere, well-meaning, God-fearing people, no doubt, but bigots just the same in that they seek to enforce the attitudes and wishes of a minority upon the majority.

Burrows W. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1970;103(12):1316.

(Correspondence) Abortions under the NHS

HGE Arthure

British Medical Journal, BMJ — British Medical Journal

Extract
It seems to me that social services do remarkably little for either the unmarried girl or the married women with poor housing conditions, even if they could be persuaded to continue with their pregnancy. It is not surprising that they suffer from a reactive depression, and I believe that abortion should be available to them on the National Health Service. It is speedily avail able in the private sector for those who can afford or can borrow the money. Unfortunately the waiting list for outpatient appointments is increasing, and there may be unavoidable delay in admission to hospital.

Arthure H. (Correspondence) Abortions under the NHS. Br Me. J. 1970;4(5735):617.

(Correspondence) Abortion

PG Coffey

Extract
. . . Apart from a difference in maturity, there is no essential difference biologically between the prenatal and the postnatal child. It would appear, however, that those who believe in liberalized abortion ignore completely the most simple biological facts about the prenatal child and assume that life begins at birth and that whatever goes on before this is so mysterious that it can hardly be called life. . . Those who say that a law should be passed making abortion a purely medical question and independent of the law are in fact saying that the prenatal child does not deserve any legal right to life whatsoever. . .

Coffey P. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1970 Nov 21;103(11):1194, 1196.

(Correspondence) Therapeutic abortion in a Canadian city

JG Stapleton

Extract
The article “Therapeutic Abortion in a Canadian City” (Canad. Med. Ass. 1., 103: 461, 1970) is an interesting contribution to the current discussion of therapeutic abortion and is obviously the result of a good deal of conscientious study of a large number of hospital records. . . There is one feature about the article, however, which gives me some concern. This is the inclusion, among the relatively small number of medical grounds for abortion in this series, of the reason “Gross exposure to radiation”. . . . It would be most unfortunate if “gross exposure to radiation” were interpreted as referring to medical exposures involved in diagnosis . . .

Stapleton J. (Correspondence) Therapeutic abortion in a Canadian city. Can Med Assoc J. 1970 Nov 7;103(10):1085-1086.

(Correspondence) Therapeutic abortion in a Canadian city (author replies)

Murray Boyce

Extract
The first case (1962) was a 38-year-old woman suspected of having lumbar intervertebral disc disease who, shortly after conception, had radiological examinations on two occasions which included her pelvis. . . The second case (1963) was a 34-year-old woman with carcinoma of the cervix, which was discovered when the patient presented with a pregnancy of approximately 16 weeks’ duration. She was treated initially with cobalt. Abortion did not occur as had been expected following this. The obstetrician then proceeded to induce abortion. . . following which the carcinoma was treated by insertion of radium into the cervix.

Boyce M. (Correspondence) Therapeutic abortion in a Canadian city (author replies). Can Med Assoc J. 1970;103(10):1088.

(Correspondence) Abortion

JE Boulding

Extract
The attitude of psychiatrists to abortion is reminiscent of the attitude of dentists to fluoridation. It is my belief that the wide application of both proposals would result in much less work for dentists and for psychiatrists.

Boulding J. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1970;103(6):645-646.

(Correspondence) Therapeutic Abortion

RN Borsch

Extract
The main purpose of my letter was to clarify what I thought was Dr. Coffey’s confusion between moral and religious issues on therapeutic abortion. . . . Hence that “infamous” third paragraph was not an argument in support of therapeutic abortion but a clearer definition of the moral issues involved. How Dr. Harrison was able to extrapolate the basically sociological data to include implied support of a euthanasia program against 270,000 mental defectives and Hitler’s subsequent genocide of Jews during World War II is totally beyond my comprehension.

Borsch R. (Correspondence) Therapeutic Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1970;102(11):1209-1210.

(Correspondence) Therapeutic Abortion

CP Harrison

Extract
The argument advanced in the third paragraph of Dr. R. N. Borsch’s letter (Canad. Med. Ass. 1., 102: 642, 1970) is very convincing; but so it was the first time it was used in the book “The Release of the Destruction of Life Devoid of Value”, published in Leipzig in 1920. . . I do not question that Dr. Borsch has a real concern for the human problem or his conviction about his beliefs. I do question, however, the wisdom of accepting a philosophical position which led to the atrocities in Nazi Germany..

Harrison CP. (Correspondence) Therapeutic Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1970 May 30;102(11):1209.

(Correspondence) Therapeutic Abortion

RN Borsch

Extract
However, he seems to have confused morality with the religious (and more specifically Roman Catholic) stand against destroying a living entity. Thus, his letter is an attempt to deal with the therapeutic abortion problem on religious grounds. . . I also take issue with Dr.Coffey’s comment that the medical indications for therapeutic abortion are ”mainly psychiatric.” Psychiatric indications are actually just as many as medical, which are few, if any. However, it is the psychiatrist who is thrust in the breach of the current legislation and must take liberties to interpret the law to fit his own patient. . .

Borsch R. (Correspondence) Therapeutic Abortion. Can. Med. Assoc. J.. 1970;102(6):642. Available from: