Medical Society Takes Stance Against Anti-Abortion Rallies

The San Diego County Medical Society “strongly objects” to the anti-abortion rallies that are being staged increasingly outside medical offices and clinics, medical society President Lynn Sheffey said Monday.

The society, which represents about 2,800 of the county’s 6,000 doctors, “cannot condone . . . recent attempts to harass patients or prevent them from seeking treatment,” Sheffey said. The society opposes “any effort . . . to interfere with a patient’s visit to a physician for any medical reason,” said Sheffey, a medical doctor in Escondido.

The professional group stopped short of taking a position on “the legal, social or moral questions” surrounding abortion, Sheffey said. He called abortion “an issue about which each physician must decide for themselves.”

The society’s board unanimously endorsed the anti-demonstration stance at a July 11 meeting. It also took the fairly unusual step of publicizing the anti-demonstration stand. Although the society regularly alerts its members to stands taken on issues, “we also felt it was important to let the public know that we disapprove of this type of behavior,” Sheffey said.

Issue Raised by Doctors

Medical society board members tackled the issue after it was raised by several doctors, none of whom had been picketed by anti-abortion groups, Sheffey said. “This came about because of doctors who were expressing concern about what was happening to their colleagues,” Sheffey said.

The society’s individual members did not vote on the stand, Sheffey said. However, the society’s board members and representatives of doctors in various parts of the county were unanimous in their support for the stand at the July 11 meeting, Sheffey said.

More than 300 abortion foes have been arrested in the city of San Diego alone during recent protests held outside medical offices and clinics, according to Police Department spokesman Dave Cohen.