Specialists give abortion views

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34099, 11 March 1976, Page 3

Specialists give abortion views

Submissions against j 1 liberalising the abor-;' tion law were made to ! the Royal Commission , on contraception, steriliisation and abortion to-'; day by five Christ-! {church gynaecologists I and a consultant: pediatrician. I Mr K. D. Drayton, a gynaecologist, began with a! personal submission, and fol-' ! lowed it with one on behalf! iof the Society for the Projection of the Unborn Child. ' This was supported by; four of his colleagues,' 'Messrs A. H. Foate. H. H.' iMcCrostie, T. C. Svenson.; 'and P. McCormick. They are! all members of the society,! and are consultants at the| , Christchurch Women’s Hos-l ipital. I Mr Drayton began by tellI ing the commission how, I early in his career, he had I done many therapeutic abortions under the direction of Sir Dugald Baird in Aberdeen, and had seen nothing wrong with this liberal (thinker’s position. Since that 'time, however, he had worked in London, and he now believed that every un-; ! born child was as much the; .patient as was its mother. ! When he returned to New; Zealand in 1955 there were: j some back-street abortionists! I working, but, he said, in dis-; cussion last year with senior ; sisters at Christchurch ! Women’s Hospital he had ! discovered that only about six women had been admit- ! ted for treatment after ille- ; gal abortions since the hosj pi tai opened. He said the present law ! was quite adequate and it reflected his own moral atti-l tude. ‘Changing attitude’ “As a result of a changing attitude to abortion by my psychiatric colleagues, more frequent recommendations Jfor termination of pregnancy ; began to appear about 1968. and during the following years 1 found myself being increasingly advised to abort pregnancies on psychiatric grounds. “It was, however, noticeable that, though at first a majority of these patients had undergone psychiatric .treatment before their pregnancy, as time went by, patients were being referred: who had no previous psy- j chiatric problems,” he said. ' Since 1966 there had been ' a dramatic increase in the ■ number of abortions done at the Christchurch Women’s Hospital, largely on psy- . chiatric grounds. Medical I indications for termination

had declined to a point i where few, if any existed,:! said Mr Drayton. < Where he felt that he ’ could not agree to terminate'! a pregnancy, he would say|< so, and would refer the , woman to another gynaeco-ji logist. He would also tell the ; person of his association , with the Society For the 1 Protection of the Unborn:, Child. The perfect law would never be found, and there-!; fore the onus must always remain with the woman's; doctor. | In the case of a single girl , ishe should be required to, name the father of the child. !“In this way he would have! Ito accept responsibility, | I which at the moment he too; often shirks,” he said. ! Women’s feelings In dealing with the official submission from the society, Mr Drayton said a woman's feelings and mental attitude' fluctuated in the early stages of pregnancy. These reactions were perfectly natural and normal. “It follows that it is in general unsafe, and irresponsible, to interpret the! mother’s feelings of anger, I depression, or rejection in! the early stages of her pregnancy as indications for an abortion. In all but ex-i ceptional cases, therefore,' .■the only responsible medical: procedure is to support the; mother through her temporary difficulties, knowing that: her attitude will change.” | When he was asked by'; the commission if he. thought that some of his colleagues were abrogating their responsibility in this area, he said that some general practitioners were, and many psychiatrists certainly |were. Where a patient was i referred from one person to another and received a number of opinions there would be more confusion than ever. The result was that those consulted could usually think only in terms of abortion. “Abortion is the only in-, stance in our law where a! medical practitioner can lawfully and intentionally ; kill a human being,” he said. I Mr Drayton said that he I had been responsible for the! care of thousands of preg-1

nant women, and only one had not been grateful to him at the time of her delivers. That was because her baby had a deformity. She had ! since grown to love her i child and was now "immensely proud of him." The rejection of the child lasted one week. Mr McCormick made an additional submission on complications after therapeutic abortions. He said that, from studies he had made, long-term complications, including sterility and cervical incompetence, could occur in as many as 6 per cent of cases. Between 26 and 30 per cent of cases would have some form of complication. He did not believe that the claims of the Auckland Medical Aid Centre — of complications of the order of 2 per cent — could be accurate. He did not believe it was trying to be dishonest, but women were going to the National Women's ; Hospital for help, so that jthe central records were not ; accurate. I Mr Svenson made an extra submission on the incidence of venereal disease. In Christchurch more than two-thirds of those seeking treatment were teen-agers. A total of 5814 persons attended the city's clinic in 1975. There were increases |on the 1974 figures of 30 per cent for males and 25 pei cent for females. “On medical and public health grounds, there is a (good deal to be said for a deliberate encouragement, of :what are sometimes wrongly called the old fashioned values in sexual behaviour," said Mr Svenson.