D
David_Paul
Guest
Saturday, August 27, 2005
By Virginia Linn
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It’s nothing short of “terrorism against science,” says Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis, editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association, about the hundreds of hate-filled e-mails she received this week after publishing a medical review on fetal pain by San Francisco researchers.
What the review said was that it’s unlikely that a fetus can feel pain until the seventh month of pregnancy. The findings challenge efforts by anti-abortion advocates who are pushing for laws requiring that doctors tell expectant mothers about fetal pain by the fifth month.
What it didn’t say, however, was that one of the University of California researchers who conducted the medical review, Dr. Eleanor Drey, directs San Francisco’s largest abortion clinic, and that another, Susan Lee, a medical student and lawyer, worked five years ago in the legal department for NARAL, an abortion rights group.
And that omission has unleashed a letter-writing and e-mail attack against the journal by anti-abortion advocates that’s become so vicious that DeAngelis has alerted the publication’s security staff.
Even though she wished she had known about Lee’s affiliations, those disclosures would not have stopped publication of the report in the peer-reviewed journal that she said was “extremely well written.”
“The article is based on science, the best available data at this point,” said DeAngelis, a pediatric specialist who has been editor-in-chief of JAMA since 1999.
Regarding Drey, an obstetrician/gynecologist, DeAngelis said there is nothing to disclose because performing abortions is in the scope of this specialty. Drey said in an interview earlier this week that having a person on the research team with expertise in abortions was beneficial in developing and understanding the data.
Neither Drey nor Lee considered their affiliations to be conflicts of interest.
DeAngelis, who is JAMA’s first female editor-in-chief in the 116-year history of the journal, said her organization has one of the strongest disclosure policies, and she has no plans to change it.
“Should I have them tell us what [political] party they voted for last time?” she asked.
“I’m a staunch Roman Catholic. I’ve never performed an abortion. I’ve never used birth control pills because of my beliefs,” she said. “But if I had to let my own personal beliefs get in the way, or my own religion or my own politics, I would have to leave my job.”
Excerpt:Click here for more…
By Virginia Linn
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It’s nothing short of “terrorism against science,” says Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis, editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association, about the hundreds of hate-filled e-mails she received this week after publishing a medical review on fetal pain by San Francisco researchers.
What the review said was that it’s unlikely that a fetus can feel pain until the seventh month of pregnancy. The findings challenge efforts by anti-abortion advocates who are pushing for laws requiring that doctors tell expectant mothers about fetal pain by the fifth month.
What it didn’t say, however, was that one of the University of California researchers who conducted the medical review, Dr. Eleanor Drey, directs San Francisco’s largest abortion clinic, and that another, Susan Lee, a medical student and lawyer, worked five years ago in the legal department for NARAL, an abortion rights group.
And that omission has unleashed a letter-writing and e-mail attack against the journal by anti-abortion advocates that’s become so vicious that DeAngelis has alerted the publication’s security staff.
Even though she wished she had known about Lee’s affiliations, those disclosures would not have stopped publication of the report in the peer-reviewed journal that she said was “extremely well written.”
“The article is based on science, the best available data at this point,” said DeAngelis, a pediatric specialist who has been editor-in-chief of JAMA since 1999.
Regarding Drey, an obstetrician/gynecologist, DeAngelis said there is nothing to disclose because performing abortions is in the scope of this specialty. Drey said in an interview earlier this week that having a person on the research team with expertise in abortions was beneficial in developing and understanding the data.
Neither Drey nor Lee considered their affiliations to be conflicts of interest.
DeAngelis, who is JAMA’s first female editor-in-chief in the 116-year history of the journal, said her organization has one of the strongest disclosure policies, and she has no plans to change it.
“Should I have them tell us what [political] party they voted for last time?” she asked.
“I’m a staunch Roman Catholic. I’ve never performed an abortion. I’ve never used birth control pills because of my beliefs,” she said. “But if I had to let my own personal beliefs get in the way, or my own religion or my own politics, I would have to leave my job.”
Excerpt:Click here for more…
If they can still say they don’t feel pain, they’re purposely lying- there is no way around that. If they would still perform an abortion after seeing it, no woman in her right mind would go to him- even if she wasn’t having an abortion.