Gynaecologist/Woman Interaction

Abstract

The process of deciding about abortion applications has been described as follows by MacGillivray and Dennis:

Although no two cases are quite comparable, it is possible to sift them in broad categories, and for most gynaecologists it was a matter of collecting the basic facts to determine the group into which the patient fitted and then making the decision. (1973, p. 53)

This raises the questions of what basic facts are seen as relevant, and how decisions based on them are reached. Neither the law nor medical training contain clear guidelines for adjudicating on the indications for termination. Both the search procedures and decision rules used may therefore rely on clinical experience (which, as Becker et al. (1961) have pointed out, is often accorded higher status than scientifically verified knowledge) and on common-sense lay experience. In classifying patients into groups for which abortion is or is not indicated, gynaecologists must rely on their knowledge of features of normal social life as well as of the medical sphere narrowly defined (see Macintyre, 1973, 1976).