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.