Abortion doctors reinstated

BY MARY MERKENICH

MELBOURNE -- The Royal Women's Hospital announced on July 10 that it would reinstate three medical workers suspended for performing a late-term abortion on a 40-year-old woman who discovered that her foetus had an abnormality causing dwarfism. An internal inquiry and a coronial inquest are yet to be finalised.

The case sparked an anti-abortion furore in the Melbourne media, despite staff descriptions of the woman as being “actively suicidal” and fears that a continuation of her pregnancy would endanger her life.

The hospital had suspended the three medical staff involved, referred them to the Medical Practitioners' Board of Victoria for possible professional misconduct and referred the case to the state coroner. Many staff at the hospital believe that the three doctors, an obstetrician, a clinical geneticist and a psychiatrist, have been made scapegoats by the hospital administration to cover itself.

Hospital administrators have announced that, in future, staff will require the backing of a new termination review committee to carry out a late-term abortion of a foetus with a non-lethal abnormality or if the reason for the termination is non-obstetric.

The Victorian president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Michael Sedgley, welcomed the move as a step in the right direction for protecting hospital employees. Women's rights activists are far more cautious, arguing the need for monitoring to ensure that abortions aren't delayed and that the review process doesn't turn into a new restriction on a woman's right to choose.

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