In July 1995 former APA president Jerry Wiener, M.D., moved that the Board of Trustees instruct the APA president to appoint an ad hoc committee to "draft a statement on abortion which is clearly and unequivocally pro-choice. . . ." A number of amendments were offered, and the motion failed (Report of the Secretary to the 1996 Annual Business Meeting).

This motion reflected in large measure the APA position papers on abortion in 1978 and 1991. In many other ways, APA's official actions endorse what has come to be known as the pro-choice position. Convocation speakers are chosen from among those who support this viewpoint; one would certainly include the president of Planned Parenthood, Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, Senator Edward Kennedy, and Mrs. Al Gore in this category.

Totally absent from this equation is the Catholic Church_60 million strong in the United States and with 1 billion followers worldwide, representing 25 percent of the U.S. population and one-fifth of the inhabitants of the planet.

APA is well aware of the position of the Catholic Church on abortion; any doubts in this area had to be resolved by the visit of APA leaders to Pope John Paul II in 1993. When the Pope expresses, repeatedly, in unequivocal and unambiguous terms, the opposition of the church to abortion, the message is addressed to, among others, Catholic members of APA.

Adoption of APA's position and repeated refusal to amend the position papers to reflect the viewpoint of what may be a significant minority of the membership are not only an affront to Catholic members of the organization and to the many other members of different faiths whose opposition to abortion is grounded mainly in religious beliefs, but are also inconsistent with APA's long-held policy of fostering awareness and consideration of minority or dissenting viewpoints.

Abortion as an issue is not likely to go away; in this Presidential election year, it may well influence the choice and policy of candidates. Political parties recognize the existence of disparate viewpoints; so should APA, which can hardly claim to be nonpolitical, given the succession of high-profile politicians, screened for correctness of viewpoint, who appear at our annual meetings.

The time is past due for APA to modify its position statements on abortion to reflect the opposition, deeply felt, as a matter of conscience, by many members.

Michael F. Cleary, M.D.

Fort Worth, Tex.

(Psychiatric News, September 20, 1996)