Lyndhurst abortions to begin next month

Press, 19 December 1985, Page 7

Lyndhurst abortions to begin next month

By CINDY BAXTER, health reporter Christchurch’s abortion clinic will open next month. The Canterbury Hospital Board was told yesterday that the termination-of-pregnancy service at Lyndhurst Hospital in Bealey Avenue would begin in midJanuary. The four surgeons who began performing the abortions at Christchurch Women’s Hospital last month would continue their lists there until the clinic opened, the board was told. The board’s medical superintendent-in-chief, Dr Ross Fairgray, said that three of the four nurses who would work at the hospital had been appointed. He said there would be about 10 abortions a week at the hospital. These could increase to 15 a week. The hospital would be open three days a week. Dr Fairgray said that the board would lose money in running the hospital when catering for women outside its area. Because Lyndhurst was a day hospital only, no crossboundary payments would be made under the present hospital board funding formula. Dr Fairgray said that although there were quite a few patients coming from other areas, most hospital boards in the South Island provided abortion services. Members of the Health Department’s Abortion Supervisory Committee would visit the hospital some time next month, he said. The opening of the hosUPI sale The sale of United Press International to a partnership controlled by Mario Vazquez Rana, won the backing of a bankruptcy judge in Washington after the Mexican newspaper publisher agreed not to take the reins of the news service until the sale is final.

pital comes after many years of lobbying by the board to get a free-standing abortion clinic. In 1983, after the Government had listed a clinic for Christchurch as a priority, the board began meeting with the then Minister of Health, Mr Malcolm. Funding was refused, as the Government said the board first had to place the service higher on its priority list. The board’s proposal for a' clinic came after staff at

Christchurch Women’s Hospital objected to having the service included at the hospital. The board felt it would be easier to have a separate clinic to remove such difficulties. In May last year the Abortion Supervisory Committee expressed its support for the board’s argument. The board originally intended to convert a house on the Coronation Hospital site, but later plans to demolish the hospital and develop the site ruled that out.

In September last year, Lyndhurst Hospital, then an old people’s home, was chosen for the clinic. Formal approval from the Health Department was gained in March this year and work began two months later, after the 22 elderly women residents were accommodated elsewhere. The hospital has been the target of anti-abortion pickets, and some violence. In May, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the building, causing minor damage.