Medicine: A Reno for Abortions?

Geneva, which cradled Calvinism and the League of Nations and between times innocently got its name mixed up with gin, has lately gained fame in another capacity: the abortion capital of western Europe. In the little canton (pop. 200,000) which embraces the lake city, 1953 saw no less than 3,277 legal abortions, of which 1,761 were performed on nonresidents. In Geneva last year the number of legal abortions exceeded the number of live births.

On paper, Swiss federal law looks straightforward and strict enough. It sanctions abortion only if birth of the child would constitute "a danger menacing the life of the expectant mother or seriously menacing her health with a grave and permanent affliction." The gimmick is that in each of Switzerland's 22 cantons the law is interpreted according to the conscience of the majority.

Farmer's Daughter. In heavily Roman Catholic cantons, church doctrine is followed. In some, the permissive aspect of the law is ignored completely; in others, it is extremely difficult to get two doctors to sign the necessary authorization. In Geneva (47% Protestant, 42% Catholic), the 17 doctors authorized by the government to grant permission for abortions have interpreted the law generously.

Most eloquent of them is Psychiatrist Henri Flournoy, who cites a typical case history: Mile. X was a schoolgirl, not yet 16, the daughter of a farmer. She had been seduced at a fair in a neighboring village, did not even know the man's name. Her parents wanted a legal abortion. "This young girl, physically healthy, ran no danger either from the bodily point of view or from the mental," says Dr. Flournoy. "But if I had refused authorization, I would have inflicted incalculable damage on her from a psychological point of view."

As Flournoy sees it, there were three alternatives: i) the girl could have kept the illegitimate child, which would have seriously handicapped her chances of "a happy and normal marriage," 2) she could have given the child to the public authorities, which would have caused her "terrible guilt feelings," or 3) and most likely, there would have been a secret and .septic delivery in a hayloft, presided over by her mother and grandmother. Then what would have become of the baby? The question did not arise because Dr. Flournoy and a colleague authorized a legal abortion, which was performed in a clinic of high repute, under optimum medical conditions, for about $100.

Knotty Business. No Genevan has smarted under the city's reputation as the abortion capital more than Antoine Pugin, head of the cantonal health department and a Catholic. Pugin laid down some stiff rules: hereafter, doctors authorized to approve abortions shall serve only three-year (instead of indefinite) terms. In this way, he dropped Dr. Flournoy. Also, doctors shall make quarterly reports, setting forth their reasons for granting permission in each case. Finally, Pugin decreed, all candidates for abortion must be observed for an indefinite period, at the canton's mental hospital and psychiatric clinic.