Warning: Undefined array key "00" in C:\inetpub\vhosts\consciencelaws.org\library.consciencelaws.org\wp-includes\class-wp-locale.php on line 321
Warning: Undefined array key "00" in C:\inetpub\vhosts\consciencelaws.org\library.consciencelaws.org\wp-includes\class-wp-locale.php on line 321
Warning: Undefined array key "00" in C:\inetpub\vhosts\consciencelaws.org\library.consciencelaws.org\wp-includes\class-wp-locale.php on line 321 0 - Page 2 of 2 - Protection of Conscience Project Library Warning: Undefined array key "00" in C:\inetpub\vhosts\consciencelaws.org\library.consciencelaws.org\wp-includes\class-wp-locale.php on line 321
Warning: Undefined array key "00" in C:\inetpub\vhosts\consciencelaws.org\library.consciencelaws.org\wp-includes\class-wp-locale.php on line 321
Extract . . . papers are continually being published pointing out the hazards in subsequent childbirth after an induced abortion. . . .There is a great deal of woolly thinking about the viability of the fetus. . . One can think of several other situations where humans are totally dependent on others for their continuing existence but are not considered expendable. . . I honestly think we tend to salve our consciences far too carelessly when we use the vague term “nonviability” as a reason for condoning the termination of lives that are far from inanimate.
Extract In the intensive care unit at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton a fetus weighing 720 g has survived and thrived. By definition, any fetus of that size or larger should be considered potentially viable. . . . . In Alberta in 1975 there were two abortions induced by saline infusion; the fetuses weighed 800 and 1250 g, respectively. These weights were discovered by accident because hospitals allowing abortions prohibit the weighing of aborted fetuses. In fact, one of the fetuses was rushed to an intensive care unit in Edmonton, so it must still have been alive. . . . There is no question that the Criminal Code needs amendment to accomplish two things: (a) to make recording of weights of aborted fetuses mandatory and (b) to make it possible to take criminal action against any doctor who kills a potentially viable fetus by abortion.
Extract Your correspondents Dr. Coffey and Drs. Cohen, Rapson and Watters (ibid, page 213) all refer to our review, published over 4 years ago,1 of the consequences of induced abortion to children born subsequently. Much progress has since been made in Europe in preventing these consequences . . .
The main conclusions of our 1972 review have, indeed, been confirmed in many subsequent studies and more recent reviews. It may reasonably be inferred from the Bristol study and from other European studies that between 20 and 25% of women who have had an induced abortion need a cerclage operation to be able to carry a subsequent pregnancy to term. The percentage may well be lower in Canada if a higher percentage of abortions are undertaken earlier in pregnancy. . .
It is important for any woman who hopes to have a child subsequent to an induced abortion to accept that she will then be in a high-risk category and must report a subsequent pregnancy early, and that she will need specialist obstetric care. . . .
Cohen and her colleagues describe us as “two crusaders for compulsory pregnancy”. This is untruthful abuse. Your correspondence columns might better be used to discuss the many steps that might be taken in Canada to reduce the unfortunate consequences of induced abortion, including the careful counselling of women and the wider use of the cerclage operation early enough in a subsequent pregnancy.
Extract None of us “advise” either prenatal diagnosis or therapeutic abortion; we attempt to inform the families of their risks and available options and help them make a decision in the light of their perception of the burden 0f the disease in question, the degree of their desire to have more children and their religious or ethical beliefs. . . . only 5% of the pregnancies: of women who underwent amniocentesis for prenatal diagnosis were selectively aborted, that the procedure served as reassurance for the parents of the fetus, and that in some cases, amniocentesis may have prevented therapeutic abortion being performed because of fear that the fetus was defective, when the fetus was in fact normal.
Robin F Badgley, Denyse Fortin Caron, Marion G Powell
Badgley Report
Abstract The procedures set out for the operation of the Abortion Law are not working equitably across Canada. In almost every aspect dealing with induced abortion which was reviewed by the Committee, there was considerable confusion, unclear standards or social inequity involved with this procedure. In addition to the terms of the law, a variety of provincial regulations govern the establishment of hospital therapeutic abortion committees and there is a diverse interpretation of the indications for this procedure by hospital boards and the medical profession. These factors have led to: sharp disparities in the distribution and the accessibility of therapeutic abortion services; a continuous exodus of Canadian women to the United States to obtain this operation; and delays in women obtaining induced abortions in Canada.
Helen Cvejic, Irene Lipper, Robert A Kinch, Peter Benjamin
Canadian Medical Association Journal
Abstract Thirty-eight adolescents who underwent an abortion were studied by questionnaire and interview with a psychiatrist and a social worker 2 years after the abortion. Most did not regret their abortion and considered it a positive experience. Most said they would not have another abortion, although adoption was unanimously rejected as a choice for the pregnant teenager. Relations with their parents were generally good and the families were supportive in the decision-making process and in the postabortion period. The girl’s father had been absent because of death or separation in 37% of instances. A lengthy relationship with the putative father before the abortion was common, but 37% of the relationships were not able to withstand the pregnancy-abortion crisis. The proportion using contraceptives before the abortion was 2%, and 2 years after the abortion, 84%.
