Anti-Abortion Group Demands Ouster of AIDS Task Force Head Over Remark

The Right to Life League of Southern California demanded the ouster of Dr. Neil Schram as chairman of the Los Angeles City-County AIDS Task Force because he recommended that women infected with AIDS consider abortions.

Susan Carpenter McMillan, a spokeswoman for the anti-abortion group, said Wednesday that her organization was “outraged” that Schram would counsel such women to have abortions merely because their unborn children have a 30%-to-50% chance of contracting the fatal disease.

“To me,” she said, “that same child also has a 50%-to-70% chance of not getting the disease.”

But Schram said he could see no reason to alter his position. “It is absolutely, medically correct,” he said, “for the physician to notify a pregnant woman infected with the AIDS virus that one of the options for her to consider is an abortion.”