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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.
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.
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. . .
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 . . .
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.
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.
Author Summary In a city of 200,000, 119 therapeutic abortions were performed during the period 1962 to 1968. Multiple grounds were commonly given for abortion; these often included depression. Very frequently the absence of support from other people was a factor in deciding to perform abortion. Only five psychiatrists were involved in 82 cases seen in psychiatric consultation. Abortions carried out for more conventional medical reasons, including rubella, decreased in 1967 and 1968 but there was an overall increase beginning in 1967. In the later years of the study (1967-68) a higher proportion of patients were single, younger, had had no previous pregnancy and were aborted later in pregnancy; more were sterilized. A marked increase in abortion rate related particularly to the activity of one of the psychiatrists. One hundred and sixty-six abortions were performed in 1969; a comparable figure (179) was obtained from one other Canadian centre;another centre had performed more (291); two others, 109 and 63; the combined total for 27 other centres from whom replies were obtained was 186.
Extract Canadians, including those within the medical profession, range from a truly “liberal” pole, which views abortion within the first 12 weeks of gestation as simply a means of secondary birth control, to a truly “conservative” pole, which views interruption of pregnancy in any circumstances as murder. . . In a just Canadian society in the year 1970 it would seem appropriate that occupants of neither polar position should be allowed to impose their moral attitudes on the rest of the country. . .
Parenthetically one must question why any group requires the assistance of state law to ensure that its members adhere to its ethical, moral or religious code. Certainly proponents of the truly “liberal” position have no intention of trying to force any woman to have an abortion against her will. . .
. . . Doctors should not be obliged to assume the function of gatekeepers to decide which unwanted children should be allowed into this overpopulated world and which ones should not. The moral aspect of this question should reside solely with the patient and not with the physician. His role should be to ensure that the patient really does want the pregnancy terminated and to make sure that the procedure is carried out early and safely. If the doctor’s moral position on this question precludes his providing her with the care required, he is now ethically bound by The Canadian Medical Association’s code of ethics to inform her that this is so, while making it clear that this is his own personal attitude. . .
Summary Page long comment by CMA official who encountered feminist pickets outside the CMA office accusing the association of being anti-abortion, accusing gynecologists of lying about legality of abortion and refusing to distribute contraceptives to the unmarried. Also demanding abortion on demand. “I hope that the demands of the Women’s Liberation Movement will not prevail, if for no more lofty reason than that the plight of doctors, nurses and hospitals would be worse than it is”.
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.
