Facts needed

Press, 12 July 1979, Page 4

Facts needed

The committee has written to the Minister of Health (Mr Gair) asking him, if necessary, to provide the Wellington Hospital Board with the necessary funds for the abortion clinic. In the major population areas there were advantages in setting up separate abortion facilities. These would eliminate some of the present problems, such as the workload on operating surgeons, the provision of adequate operating sessions in public hospitals, interference in other gynaecological work, and the full use of counselling services. The committee also said that with separate facilities, general practitioners could be trained

to carry out abortions. Overseas experience suggested that general practitioners could do the work “skilfully and satisfactorily,” up to the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. The committee said its difficulties in implementing the law had been added to by the groups with a particular interest in abortion. The problems of the pressure groups had also had an effect on the attitudes of the medical profusion which, in general, had been unwilling to accept its responsibilities in the abortion area, the committee said. Doctors did not want to be involved because, among other things, they did not want to have their work with patients, “subjected to public scrutiny,” and they wanted to avoid being exposed to “pressures other than medical,” it said.