The deVeber Institute
for Bioethics and Social Research

On Validity in Research

Keith Cassidy, a professor of history at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, and board member of the deVeber Institute, had this to say about research on life issues:

“The life issues which have in large measure engaged the attention of the deVeber Institute – abortion and euthanasia – have a particular fascination for an historian. Proponents of abortion rights have stressed the evolution of both religious and secular law’s treatment of abortion and argued that there is no warrant for asserting that there is an unvarying “pro-life” tradition in Western culture. Indeed the pro-choice account of the historical record played an important role in the U.S. Supreme Court’s justification for its decision in Roe v. Wade.

How accurate is that account? Recent scholarship throws it into very serious question. Thus Joseph Dellapenna’s monumental (1283 pages) study, Dispelling the Myths of Abortion History, (2006) demonstrates that the protection of fetal life was in fact a concern of law from the earliest period, and that much of the historical writing relied upon by the Supreme Court is erroneous. As he puts it “the prohibition of abortion was always viewed as the protection of emerging, yet real, human life.”

If a woman has a surgical abortion, does she increase her future risk of a premature delivery or, more importantly, does she boost her later odds of a very preterm birth (under 33 weeks' gestation)?  Preterm newborn children have a higher risk of the 'MACE' disorders (Mental retardation, Autism, Cerebral palsy, Epilepsy) and other risks (blindness, deafness, lung injury, 'gut' problems, serious infections, etc.).

The average doctor can not be expected to keep track of the over 130 published studies of the abortion-preemie risk, but he/she can read abortion-preemie extensive review studies.  In the 21^st century there have been three such studies.

On Thursday May 21st, 2009, the deVeber Institute will present an evening of talks and discussion entitled:

Compassionate End of Life Care
Support for families caring for a loved one

Speakers: Dr. Paul Zeni and Lenore McGuire
Time:       7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Location:  520 Sherbourne St., Toronto Ontario

See poster for details.