AMA Adopts Scientific Council Report on Abortion
Prior to ratifying an AMA Board of Trustees decision to endorse federal legislation banning the abortion procedure known as "intact D and X," the AMA House of Delegates also adopted a report from the AMA Council on Scientific Affairs titled "Late-Term Pregnancy Termination Techniques."
The 32-page report from the Council on Scientific Affairs included eight recommendations. The following are excerpts:
- The AMA reaffirms current policy regarding abortion. . . . In summary: the early termination of pregnancy is a matter between the patient and physician subject to the physician's clinical judgment, the patient's informed consent, and the availability of appropriate facilities; abortion is a medical procedure and should be performed by a physician in conformance with standards of good medical practice; support of or opposition to abortion is a matter for members of the AMA to decide individually, based on personal values or beliefs. . .; neither physician, hospital, nor hospital personnel shall be required to perform any act violative of personally held moral principles.
- The term "partial birth abortion" is not a medical term. The AMA will use the term "intact dilation and extraction.". . . This procedure is distinct from dilation and evacuation (D&E) procedures more commonly used to induce abortion after the first trimester. . . .
- According to the scientific literature, there does not appear to be any identified situation in which intact D&X is the only appropriate procedure to induce abortions, and ethical concerns have been raised about intact D&X. . . .
- The viability of the fetus and the time when viability is achieved may vary with each pregnancy. In the second trimester when viability may be in question, it is the physician who should determine the viability of a specific fetus, using the latest available diagnostic technology.
- In recognition of the constitutional principles regarding the right to an abortion articulated by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, and in keeping with the science and values of medicine, the AMA recommends that abortions not be performed in the third trimester except in cases of serious fetal anomalies incompatible with life. . . .
- The AMA will work with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to develop clinical guidelines for induced abortion after the 22nd week of gestation. . . . The AMA will also work with the American Academy of Pediatrics to develop clinical guidelines with respect to fetal viability during gestation and its impact on this procedure.
- The AMA urges the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. . .to develop expanded, ongoing data surveillance systems of induced abortion.
- The AMA will work with appropriate medical specialty societies. . .and other interested groups to educate the public regarding pregnancy prevention strategies. . . . The demand for abortions, with the exception of those indicated by serious fetal anomalies or conditions which threaten the life or health of the pregnant woman, represent failures in the social environment and education. Such measures should help women who elect to terminate a pregnancy through induced abortion to receive those services at the earliest possible stage of gestation.
(Psychiatric News, July 18, 1997)
