Proposal for more abortion consultants

Press, 11 September 1986, Page 1

Proposal for more abortion consultants

PA Wellington The Abortion Supervisory Committee believes the number of abortion certifying consultants should be expanded by including all doctors except those opting out on grounds of conscience.

In its annual report to Parliament, the committee said all medical practitioners could take a more active role in considering cases in which abortion was requested. “Registration of a medical practitioner confers the right to select those patients to whom narcotic drugs may be prescribed, to certify death, and to certify persons considered sufficiently mentally unst-

able to be committed to mental institutions,” the report said. “This committee believes it would be reasonable to expect those same doctors to be responsible for authorising abortions.” A doctor should be allowed to opt out of the responsibility “if he or she feels unable or unwilling to form an unbiased opinion.” It recommended a pro-

viso by which one of the two signatories authorising an abortion had to be a doctor of “some seniority” practising obstetrics and gynaecology. At the end of March there were 156 certifying consultants on the committee’s list. It noted that many women had to travel from smaller towns and rural districts to cities to obtain an abortion. That was particularly true of the South Island where 70 per cent of women seeking a termination went to Christchurch “at considerable cost, suffering and inconvenience for many.” The Canterbury Hospital Board was expected to provide an unfairly overloaded service which was threatened with breakdown. That would have happened if some women were not prepared to travel to the North Island, particularly Auckland. . In its report the committee also said that any attempt to define more specifically the legal grounds on which an abortion could be performed would serve no useful purpose. “It has been amply demonstrated that over-res-trictive legislation creates a situation whereby women, attempt to selfinduce or seek illicit abortions at considerable risk to themselves, or travel to other countries where abortion is more readily available.”