Law Archives - Page 38 of 39 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

(Correspondence) Therapeutic Abortion

Liam H Wright

British Medical Journal, BMJ — British Medical Journal

Extract
Dr. D. G. Withers (16 April, p. 978) questions the right of a gynaecologist to ” refuse to do the work he is employed to do on the grounds of moral prejudice.” I would question Dr. Withers’s knowledge of the current medical status of termination of pregnancy. I would question, too, his use of the words ” moral prejudice.” As it is axiomatic that in medical discussions on this subject a Catholic is held incapable of an objective and unbiased view, my personal opinions will carry no weight with Dr. Withers. He should know, however, that there is no indication for termination of pregnancy about which there is universal agreement among gynaecologists (or other doctors). For each and every suggested indication there is a substantial body of competent informed non-Catholic medical opinion which opposes termination. These doctors, too, may be accused of (or praised for) moral prejudice.

Wright LH. (Correspondence) Therapeutic Abortion. Br Med J. 1966 Jul 23;5507):240.

Therapeutic Abortion: Report by the BMA Special Committee

British Medical Association

Extract
The Special Committee of the British Medical Association was appointed by the Council on the instruction of the Representative Body, and first met in November 1965.* Its task was to bring up to date the Association’s earlier report of 1936. At the same time as the Committee began its task the House of Lords gave a second reading to an Abortion Bill promoted by Lord Silkin. The Committee therefore prepared, in January 1966, an interim report in the form of comments upon the clauses of this Bill. Simultaneously it sought information from 22 Commonwealth and foreign medical associations on the state of law and practice obtaining in their countries. The replies received have assisted materially in the preparation of the following definitive report on the legislative aspects of the problem. During the early months of 1966 a number of other important statements have appeared, notably the report of the Council of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and these too have been considered.

BMA. Therapeutic Abortion: Report by the BMA Special Committee. Br Med J. 1966;2(5504):40-44.

(Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform

Robert Browne, David L Kirk

Extract
Legislation can be disastrous if it is ill-considered. Attempts to tidy up existing law, as in the case of betting and gambling, have proved in the last few years liable to proliferate what the law sought originally to discourage.

Browne R, Kirk DL. (Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform. Br Med J. 1966;1(5502):1541.

(Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform

DG Wilson Clyne

Extract
If we consider the medical indications for therapeutic abortion whereby the patient’s life may be expected to improve as a result of the operation, then its scope is very limited indeed. Rare indications include pregnancy complicated by carcinoma of the cervix; chorea gravidarum; status epilepticus; severe hyperemesis gravidarum; multiple sclerosis; pernicious anaemia ; and polyneuritis. . . Medically and psychiatrically therapeutic abortion is seldom indicated because it is very seldom indeed that it does any medical good.

Clyne DW. (Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform. Br Med J. 1966 Jun 11;1(5501):1482-1483.

(Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform

Richard De Soldenhoff

Extract
Without wishing to appear pompous, as a senior obstetrician who has been in charge of an obstetrical service in a large provincial district for 20 years, I think that to bring in legalized abortion would be a terrible mistake. It has been our policy to carry out an abortion where necessary on any case deserving it for therapeutic, social economic, or moral reasons, and to consider the question of sterilization with ,sympathy whenever requested.

Soldenhoff RD. (Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform. Br Med J. 1966 May 07;1(5496):1168.

(Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform

KS Jones

Extract
No doubt more intensive social facilities would often be welcome, but to suggest that individual workers need to be forced to ” take up their full responsibilities ” is strongly to be deprecated.

Jones K. (Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform. Br Med J. 1966 Apr 23;1(5494):1050.

(Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform

DG Withers

Extract
I should like to question the right of a gynaecologist to refuse to do the work he is employed to do on grounds of moral prejudice. What would be the consequence, I wonder, if a surgeon refused to order blood transfusion on the basis of his beliefs as a Jehovah’s Witness ? It is a well-accepted principle of medical ethics that treatment should not depend on race, colour, or creed of patient or doctor. I maintain, therefore, that it is clearly wrong for a person not prepared to perform abortions to follow a profession which requires him to do so.

Withers D. (Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform. Br Med J. 1966 Apr 16;1(5493):978.

(Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform

RW Taylor

Extract
No doubt we could eventually be so conditioned that abortion, or the destruction of any other life too for that matter, gave no concern to our professional consciences. It is at least debatable whether any such alteration, not to say lowering, of our ethical standards would benefit either our patients or ourselves.

Taylor RW. (Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform. Br Med J. 1966;1(5489):738.

Medical Issues in Abortion Law Reform

Lord Brain

Extract
There remain for consideration some general problems to which very little attention has so far been paid. It is necessary to distinguish (1) the law relating to abortion, (2) professional ethics relating to abortion, and (3) individual ethical standards. Hitherto (1) and (2) have coincided, in that an offence against the law relating to abortion has also been treated as an offence against professional ethics. Personal ethical standards, however, may differ from those of the law or of the profession as a whole. If the law is relaxed the General Medical Council will presumably have to consider whether professional ethical standards should be correspondingly relaxed. Individual judgements, however, may well show a much wider range than in the past, when doctors who were not opposed to abortion in principle were usually prepared to accept the standards laid down by the Bourne judgement. . . Doctors will, of course, remain free to exercise their own judgements in these matters, and the same must apply to the nurses and others who have to cooperate with them.

Brain L. Medical Issues in Abortion Law Reform. Br Med J. 1966;1(5489):727-729.

(Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform

Denis Pells Cocks

Extract
Nowadays therapeutic abortion is performed relatively rarely for organic disease, and the indications are largely psychiatric with often associated secondary social factors. Whilst some clarification of the old law may be necessary in order that all can understand the situation, we must beware lest in reframing the law this results in the opening of the floodgates in the demand for termination on more liberal grounds.

Cocks DP. (Correspondence) Abortion Law Reform. Br Med J. 1966 Feb 26;1(5486):539.