From Mr P. Walton, MRPharmS
SIR,—I read with interest the letter from Dr K. Law entitled "A different form of dogma?" (PJ, December 18/25, 1999, p982). Dr Laws states that I am dogmatic about my views, but I am not inflicting my moral views, and more importantly the consequences of any act of omission due to them, on others.
Dr Law talks about the sanctity of life, but, in some circumstances, hormonal postcoital contraception can prevent sperm and egg meeting, and therefore there is no real life. It is just as if the act of sexual intercourse had not happened.
The consequences of late action to avoid unwanted pregnancy should also be considered. PC4 is most effective when used within 24 hours and its efficacy is greatly reduced after 48 or 72 hours. This may create the situation where a woman will be more likely to have a fertilised egg implanted, against her wishes. She is then in the position where she must either seek more drastic action, such as abortion, or give birth to an unwanted child. Many will seek abortion, and thus the sanctity of life really can be considered to be violated.
I assume that Dr Law would like to abolish legal abortion, too, and so we can get back to the good old days of knitting needles, and young women often meeting an untimely death due to a sex act and an immoral conception, with all the social stigma attached to it.
There are some, of course, who will seek early postcoital contraception because they have been raped. Maybe they should be forced to give birth to an unwanted, and maybe even hated, child to pander to the moral view of others who would stop the supply of effective alternatives. Even in Bosnia, with all the social taboos against sex before marriage, postcoital contraception was given to the raped women, who could not confess to what had happened to them because of social stigma.
Dr Law is welcome to his high morals, and he can be fairly sure that nobody will force an abortion or unwanted contraception on him or his kin. He therefore should not try to force an unwanted baby on to a mother who does not want to conceive, and is possibly in no position to look after it. Of course, as the world becomes even more overpopulated, there may be Western governments that try to force the Chinese scheme of reducing overpopulation by forced contraception and abortion, and in that situation I would make a stand for his family's rights.
As to the morality of sexual intercourse and conception, sexual intercourse is not seen by many people as a function simply to procreate. It is seen as an act of love and pleasure that can be enjoyed without necessarily making babies. I think that this is a good thing, dogmatically!
Philip Walton
Swinton, Manchester