Don't blame the doctor
Sir: I think Professor Maclaren (July 24) has misunderstood my position on abortion. I have never said that gynaecologists should be compelled to carry out abortions against their will. What I do say is that it is manifestly absurd to leave a group of men responsible for the implementation of a law when they are hopelessly divided among themselves as to what it means. This is not the fault of the gynaecologists — it is the fault of the law, which should be more precisely defined. It should also include provision for its implementation and a guarantee against victimization for those who disagree with it.
John Rowan Wilson 32 South Eaton Place,
London SW1.
Sir: What meaning can one attach to Professor Hugh McLaren's conundrum: "Surely you expect consultant gynaecologists to consult with their patients, not simply to do what,she commands?"
We already know, from countless letters to the SPECTATOR and other journals that Professor McLaren strongly objects to abortion on moral and religious grounds, and that he regards it as bad medicine unless essential to save the patient's actual life. Given this context, what does "consulting with" a patient mean in practice? It means quite simply listening to her urgent plea for abortion, and explaining to her that she has not the slightest chance of obtaining it anywhere in Professor McLaren's jurisdiction. This is to use the word " consult " in a rather special, possibly unique way, to describe the activities of those doctors who have taken on the functions of the clergy, under the illusion that their medical training makes them peculiarly fitted to impose their moral as well as their medical advice on their patients.
The reference to the forcible sterilization of Jews is really in quite outrageous bad taste. They were, needless to say, sterilized not at their own request, but precisely after such a " consultation " as Professor McLaren unwittingly describes, ie the doctor ignoring the wishes of the patient: .and thereby doing her a hideous injury. R. S. Hadow-Wilharns 77 Rede Place, W2.
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