Legalized Abortion?

As diseases go, German measles (rubella) is pipsqueak stuff. The rash fades quickly, rarely lasts longer than three days. But last week, Dr. Murray H. Bass of Manhattan had some things to say about German measles which sent many a matron scurrying to her medical books for symptoms (mild fever, spots).

To 500 pediatricians assembled in Manhattan's Pennsylvania Hotel for a three-day regional conference, there was nothing new in Dr. Bass's statement that expectant mothers who catch German measles in the first few weeks of pregnancy often give birth to defective children. What rattled their pince-nez were his recommendations that: 1) if the disease occurs in the first three months of pregnancy, abortion should be considered; 2) every effort should be made to expose young girls to rubella, to set up probable immunity.

In most states, abortion is justified only to save the life of the mother and, because rubella cannot always be clearly diagnosed, the practice might easily be abused. But few progressive doctors would deny the need for grave measures. Australian statistics had shown that if a mother contracted the disease within the first six weeks of pregnancy, the chance of the fetus being deformed was almost 100%; if in the second six weeks, about 50%. Dr. Bass, while stressing that Australian statistics could not be applied to the rest of the world, reported that in seven cases he had observed recently he had found five backward children, two deaf mutes.

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