Posted on 02/08/2007 4:09:59 PM PST by wagglebee
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new survey of doctors nationwide finds 52 percent said they oppose abortion and others wouldn't refer women considering an abortion to a place that does them. They survey also found some physicians believe it is appropriate to withhold information about abortion on moral grounds.
University of Chicago researchers conducted the study with interviews of 1,144 doctors around the country. It is believed to be the first comprehensive survey of the moral attitudes of physicians.
The study found 14 percent of those surveyed do not believe they are required to tell a patient about all treatment options when it comes to morally objectionable procedures such as abortion.
And 29 percent of physicians say they do not feel they must refer someone to another doctor for a treatment they oppose or were undecided.
Doctors who described themselves as strong Christians, whether Protestant or Catholic, were more likely to refuse a referral or more information about morally objectionable procedures like abortion.
Dr. Gary Smith, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the Women's Health Center at Robinwood in Hagerstown, Maryland, is one such doctor.
Smith does not do abortions or refer women to physicians that do and he won't tell a pregnant woman that abortion is an option.
"They know it's an option," he told the Baltimore Sun newspaper. "They don't need me to tell them abortion exists."
"I was always taught I have two patients: the mother and the baby," he said. "Why would I want to send somebody out to hurt their baby?"
Female doctors were more likely to refer women to abortion practitioners than male physicians the study showed.
The survey also found that 42 percent of physicians opposed prescribing birth control to a minor without parental approval.
Dr. Farr Curlin, a University of Chicago ethicist and internist, led the study, which was published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
Some 1,820 practicing U.S. family doctors and specialists chose randomly from a database were mailed a survey and 63 percent of them responded.
Perfect!
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Sad that it's not more.
That raises an interesting question... Can doctor write prescriptions to minor and pharmacies fill them without parental permission? Or does that only to harmless body altering drugs like the pill?
Women LIKE killing babies?
My guess is that female doctors are far from typical of women as a whole. I'd bet anything they're more liberal.
This is encouraging news. A bit surprising.
That bothers me terribly, that women are more likely to recommend abortion than men. Abortion isn't medical care, it's a failure of service to both patients.
Feminists for Life have the right idea on this issue.
god bless you, Doctor: "I was always taught I have two patients: the mother and the baby," he said. "Why would I want to send somebody out to hurt their baby?"
My second grandson was born three weeks ago today!
Children are most definitely God's gifts to us.
Every doctor I know says that when you study unborn babies in medical school, you can't but come up with the full understanding that what's blandly called a fetus on the outside "is life." I've known med students who've actually been drawn to Christianity from secularism as a result of their medical study and the value they place on life from it.
There, I've just installed myself as spokesman for the Dems.
Just one of the duties of a 'modern' woman! It's not just for male doctors any longer.
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Actually, the survey asked whether the docs objected to giving birth control "if the parents do not approve."
Amazingly, only 42 percent object! And some of these would still tell the girl where she could find a doctor to prescribe them. (I would explain, weedle and nag until the girl and the parents agreed or one of us is grounded.)
Thanks for the ping!
Nice thread. Thanks for posting it.
A NYT feature awhile back (about doctors' reticence to do abortions) reported that one doctor quipped to another doctor who was performing abortions, "Still killing babies, eh?"
I live in Maryland. If I didn't already have a pro-life gyn, I'd probably switch to him. I don't want a doctor that would treat me as anything less than two patients while I was pregnant, and I don't think a pro-choice doctor can possibly do that. This is exactly the attitude all OBGYNs need to have.
I'm surprised that more doctors surveyed weren't against abortion, actually. The first few biology-oriented classes I took got me to believe a fetus is more than a lump of tissue, the ones that came after it just reaffirmed it.
I'm also glad they mentioned he's from Maryland...now people won't say, "Oh it's just doctors in the southwest saying that!" An A from NARAL isn't so liberal.
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