Surgical Ethics Education Resources #17

[Sent – 26 May 2019 to the 170+ surgeons et al of our Surgical Ethics (Education) Consortium]

Greetings from St. Louis and WashU. At least a decade ago, I was invited to assist with a values clarification session for the WashU Ob/Gyn interns re their views of and likely approaches to patient care involving abortion. Since then I have continued to do so each academic year. As I was preparing this morning for the next values clarification session, we circulated the 2006 article titled ‘Regarding Zygotes as Persons: Implications for Public Policy’ my colleague Dr. Wall and I had published in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. In the article, Dr. Wall (who until his retirement a few years ago was the WashU Ob/Gyn Department’s uro-gynecologic surgery division chief and with whom I have worked collaboratively since the mid-1990s) and I question the scientific (in)accuracy and the public policy (ir)rationality of abortion restriction state legislative bills such as those currently spreading across the US. We welcome your feedback.

Doug