A research paper prepared for the Society for Experimental Biology & Medicine, 163, 437-44, 1980, states that "58 fetal specimens of ages ranging from 8 - 17.5 weeks were obtained by hysterotomy ..." These hysterotomy abortions were performed at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.

While the League for Life abhors all abortions, we are especially concerned about these cases for the following reasons:

1. Hysterotomy abortions are not usually performed under approximately 14 weeks gestation. 40 of the women involved in this study were less than 14 weeks pregnant; 26 were of 12 weeks or less gestation.

2. Hysterotomy abortions are classified as major surgery requiring a general anesthetic and the opening of both the abdominal & uterine cavities. It is therefore a much more hazardous procedure for women than auction or surgical D & C, the usual method of abortion under 12 to 14 weeks.

3. A number of factors make it very unusual for doctors to perform abortions by hysterotomy in the early weeks of pregnancy.
a) The increased risk of post-operative infection resulting in sterility or diminished fertility.
b) Women aborted by hysterotomy would likely require caesarean section for any subsequent pregnancies carried to term. (Both of these facts are significant if those involved are young women.)
c) Patients undergoing hysterotomy abortion requires longer hospital stays putting increased pressure on already strained facilities and increasing costs.

4. The nature of the research described in the paper apparently required intact specimens in order to excise the brain, by-pothalmus and pituatory gland. Abortions performed by suction or surgical D & C would not provide such specimens, but in a hysterotomy abortion the developing baby is lifted out, intact, in the amniotic sac. Such "specimens" would therefore satisfy the requirements of the research.

We recognize that additional procedures e.g. sterilization may have been associated with the performance of these hysterotomies. This fact however does not negate the need to Investigate the indications which presumably required abortion by hysterotomy rather than less hazardous methods.

We seek assurance that women have not been used for experimental purposes which would jeopardize their general well being, endanger their future health or adversely affect their reproductive health.

We therefore request that the Minister of Health, as provided in Section 251, Subsection (5) of the Criminal Code, investigate the circumstances, together with other information relating to the procuring of these hysterotomy abortions.