Australian Survey Purporting to Show Widespread Support For Late-Term Abortion Vigorously Challenged.(Brief Article)

A medical ethicist and the media have used a survey of 39 members of the Australian Association of Obstetrical and Gynaecological Ultrasonologists as proof that most doctors support late-term abortion. However, critics say the survey makes unwarranted extrapolations from a small number of respondents and demonstrates "reproductive discrimination."

The survey also comes amidst continuing controversy following reports that a 32-week-old unborn baby with dwarfism was aborted in Melbourne, in January 2000.

The headline in the Daily Telegraph describing the survey conducted by Professor Julian Savulescu, director of ethics at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, was typical: "Almost two in three Australian doctors would be prepared to terminate a pregnancy after 24 weeks, a national survey has found."

But this "national survey" was in reality a very small sample of a small group of medical professionals.

Savulescu sent the survey to the 82 members of the Australian Association of Obstetrical and Gynaecological Ultrasonologists. Thirty-nine members replied.

According to The Age, the respondents said they had performed 34 late-term abortions over the last three years by injecting potassium chloride through the heart or umbilical cord of the unborn baby. They also reported that they knew of 50 more that had been performed.

Savulescu, who presented his findings at the World Congress of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology in Melbourne October 24, also said that two-thirds of the respondents would perform late-term abortions for fetal abnormalities, The Age reported. Of this two-thirds, 16% would perform them for any reason as long as the mother received counseling, and 20% would abort a late-term unborn baby with "moderate to severe intellectual disabilities such as Down syndrome," according to The Age.