January 1999

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Second Opinion

From Nucleus - January 1999 : (p11)

Written by Sophie Critchley

Imagine your medical student days are over and you are now a general practitioner. You are doing a clinic and the following cases present. Would you consider or even recommend abortion?

Case one:

A pastor and his wife who are extremely poor, have 14 children and mounting debt, are now expecting their 15th child.

Case two:

A family in which the father has pneumonia and the mother is suffering from tuberculosis. The couple are struggling to look after their three remaining children following the death of the second eldest sibling. Additionally, their history reveals that one of the children is deaf, another is blind and the third has tuberculosis. The mother has discovered that she is pregnant.

Case three:

A 13-year-old black girl who presents two months after being raped by a white male. The pregnancy test is positive and her parents ask for your opinion.

Case four:

An unmarried pregnant teenager whose fiancé is not the father of the baby and is very upset.

Outcome:

If you have answered ‘yes’ in any of these situations, you have just sanctioned the death of:

Case one:

John Wesley, one of the great evangelists of the 19th century

Case two:

Ludwig van Beethoven

Case three:

Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer

Case four:

Jesus Christ!

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