Abortion committee under censure

Press, 31 May 1982, Page 5

Abortion committee under censure

The demand for abortions at the Christchurch Women's Hospital would be within the capabilities of hospital staff if the Abortion Supervisory Committee was doing its job properly, according to a spokesman for the Health Alternatives for Women. Ms Averil Williams. She was reacting to 'comments by the medical super-intendent-in-chief of the North Canterbury Hospital Board. Dr R. A. Fairgray, that staff at the hospital were under considerable strain because of the growing demand for abortions. ' “Christchurch is practically the only centre in the

South Island where women have access to legal abortions. T.H.A.W. gets daily inquiries from women and doctors outside Christchurch who have no access to an abortion clinic in their area." said Ms Williams. Under the Contraception, Sterilisation and i Abortion Act. the committee was set up to ensure that sufficient and adequate clinics were available throughout the country. T.H.A.W. had found that it had failed to do this, she said. “To establish an abortion clinic for the whole of the South Island in Christchurch would acknowledge this failure."