Consultants dropped —'too many abortions’

Press, 16 April 1979, Page 5

Consultants dropped —'too many abortions’

PA Wellington The Abortion Supervisory Committee is considering not re-appointing certifying consultants it thinks might be approving too many abortions. At least three doctors in the Wellington region, whose initial terms as consultants have expired, have been told the committee has some reservations about re-appointing them. A copy of the letter sent to those consultants by the Abortion Supervisory Committee’s chairman (Mrs G. C. P. A. Wallace). It says their initial appointment as certifying consultants has expired. It says the consultants had acted in many cases and had approved high numbers of abortions. “These factors could indicate that far too liberal a view of the legislation is being taken,” the letter says. If this were so, it would be contrary to the spirit and tenor of the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act. “As a consequence, in considering your reappointment, the committee has some reservations.” the letter says. It had a duty to make sure the legislation's provisions were consistently

applied throughout New Zealand. It invited the consultants to make comments or representations before April 23. The committee is due to meet in Wellington that day. A Justice Department spokesman has said that about 100 consultants’ positions were up for reappointment. Most had been reappointed but there were some being considered. The spokesman could not give any figures. The consultants did not want to be named, but they said the committee had not had the clinical details to decide if a liberal view was being taken. Cases they had dealt with had mostly been 'preselected” as to whether the patient would qualify for an abortion under the legislation. This would account for their high approval rate, they said. All thought the committee had a hard task in deciding what a “liberal view” was and suggested it might be under some pressure. Asked whether they considered they had been too liberal, they all said they had tried to work within the confines of the law. If they had been too liberal, it was the way the

law was written, they said. All intended to write to the committee explaining their points of view.