Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 38, Number 19. May 29 1975
Little Revealed
Little Revealed
Dear Bruce,
Gordon Little's letter last week("Justifying the closure of the Remuera Clinic") reveals little except confusion on the Remuera Abortion Clinic, a confusion that seems common to many supporters of Dr Wall. He stales that Wall's Act is justified in closing the Remuera clinic because it makes illegal abortions that much harder to obtain. That I answered last time by the fact that the Remuera clinic has not yet been shown to have broken any law. Gordon side-steps this point by stating that "public and approved private hospitals could easily cope with legal abortions." If this were so, then why have so many women gone to the Remuera clinic? Despite police harrassment and official interference, it would seem that they preferred the services of the clinic. Abortions in Public Hospitals are far from as easy as Gordon implies.
Gordon's second point is even more confusing. He cites my assertion that society's highest goal at the moment is the making of profits for a small and increasingly foreign elite, and continues "Assuming that this is true, it still has nothing to do with what the purpose of society is". This to me appears completely illogical.
I entirely agree with Gordon about the attributes of a socialist society though his analysis is somewhat vague in that it is not based on the necessary change in the ownership of production. I would personally welcome a change to the present law to extend the grounds for abortion to the general mental and physical health of the mother, with a removal of the often degrading procedure a woman has to go through to get an abortion in public hospitals. This alone however cannot change the forces in our society generally degrading and exploiting people - an issue that the anti-abortionists seem to have lost sight of completely. In fact, in further restricting women's abilities to obtain safe, cheap and legal abortions, Dr Wall and his running dogs are pursuing an entirely reactionary role. Gordon Little's professed belief in a just and humane society is in direct contradiction to his support for the Hospitals Amendment Act.
Anthony Ward