SUPPRESSION OF ABORTION

Evening Star, Issue 22362, 11 June 1936, Page 5

SUPPRESSION OF ABORTION

B.M.A. AGREES WITH CORONER ADVICE TO DOCTORS [Per United Press Association.]WELLINGTON, June 10. A reply, to the statement made yesterday by the Minister of Health (the Hon.. P. Fraser) with reference to the duty* of doctors attending cases where death occurs as the result of criminal abortion was made to-day at the conclusion of the meeting of the council of the New Zealand branch 'of the British Medical Association. The reply stated that the association had done everything in its power to aid the law in the suppression of this evil, and continued: “ Members of the association are in general agreement with the coroner and with the Minister in regard to the notification of a death which a doctor has reason to believe was the result of sonic person’s criminal act. The association will take means to inform its members that such a course of action is the one that should be adopted in these circumstances. This practice would then be in conformity with the rules laid down by the Royal College of Physicians for the guidance of practitioners in these cases. Such a recommendation, coming from the association would in future be a guide to a doctor in a situation which is always fraught with great difficulty and responsibility.” The statement adds: “If the Minister decides 'to set up any form of inquiry he will be afforded the full support of the profession. In regard to the position of the Director-General of Health in the matter, members of the association are under no misapprehension that he was merely the channel through which an opinion on the purely legal aspects of the case were transmitted from the Crown Law Office to the Obstetrical Society.”