Aleck William Bourne (4 June 1886 – 30 December 1974) was a prominent British gynaecologist and writer, known for his 1938 trial, a landmark case, in which he was prosecuted for performing a termination of pregnancy on a 14-year-old rape victim. He was subsequently charged with procuring an illegal abortion but was acquitted. He later became an
anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
activist.
Early life and career
Born in 1886, the only son of the Reverend W. C. Bourne in
Barnet
Barnet may refer to:
People
*Barnet (surname)
* Barnet (given name)
Places United Kingdom
*Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below.
*East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...
, Bourne was educated at Rydal School and at
Downing College, Cambridge where, in 1908, he received a first class
Natural Science Tripos
The Natural Sciences Tripos (NST) is the framework within which most of the science at the University of Cambridge is taught. The tripos includes a wide range of Natural Sciences from physics, astronomy, and geoscience, to chemistry and biology, w ...
. Granted a senior university scholarship, he entered
St Mary's Hospital in 1908 and he qualified as an
MRCS,
LRCP in 1910. He obtained an
MB, BCh, (Cambridge), and a
FRCS
Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal C ...
(England) the following year).
From 1910 to 1914 he was a resident and subsequently held other appointments at St Mary's,
Queen Charlotte's, and the
Samaritan hospitals.
In 1912, he married Bessie Hayward, the eldest daughter of G. W. Hayward, with whom he had three daughters.
While at Queen Charlotte's, in co-operation with Professor J. H. Burn, he published research papers on
uterine
The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The ...
action in
labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
and in response to various drugs.
[Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. (2014]
RCOG Roll of Active Service, 1914-1918.
London: Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. p. 2
Archived here.
/ref> During the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
from 1914 to 1917 Bourne enlisted in the British Army and served as a surgical specialist with the 17th General Hospital in Egypt and the 2nd General Hospital in France. After the war, he built a successful consulting practice in obstetrics and gynaecology
Obstetrics and Gynaecology (also spelled as Obstetrics and Gynecology; abbreviated as Obs and Gynae, O&G, OB-GYN and OB/GYN) is the medical specialty that encompasses the two subspecialties of obstetrics (covering pregnancy, childbirth, and t ...
. In 1929, he was elected a foundation member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is a professional association based in London, United Kingdom. Its members, including people with and without medical degrees, work in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology, that ...
and, founding its museum in 1938, served as curator of its museum which he built up considerably during the following years. In 1934 he was appointed as Consulting Obstetrical surgeon at St Mary's Hospital.
A yachting and deep sea cruising enthusiast, he was a member of several yacht clubs during the 1930s and, in 1933, won the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club
The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club is a watersports organisation based at Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex.
History Early history
The club was founded at Erith, Kent in 1872 and moved to Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex in 1892. The Club provided the crew for ...
's cup for the best cruiser of the year.
Abortion case
On 14 June 1938, Bourne was arrested after performing an operation without fee at St Mary's Hospital to terminate the pregnancy of six weeks of a 14-year-old girl who had been sexually assaulted by five off-duty British soldiers, officers in the Royal Horse Guards, in a London barracks. She had first attended St. Thomas' Hospital, but was sent away on the grounds that as the rapists were officers, "she might be carrying a future prime minister" and "that anyhow girls always lead men on." Tried at the Central Criminal Court in July 1938, Bourne was acquitted on charges of procuring abortion. His actions were later commended by ''The Lancet'' as "an example of disinterested conduct in consonance with the highest traditions of the profession".
His defence had been based on the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929
The Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It created the offence of child destruction. The Act retains three sections, the most substantive legal changes of which are in the first section.
The B ...
in which, under British law, the only recognised justification for the termination of a pregnancy was if the life of the woman was in danger. His defence was that although there was no direct danger to her life, termination of the pregnancy was justified because of the risks to her physical and mental health. He told the court that he could not "draw a line between danger to life and danger to health; if one waited for danger to life the woman would be past assistance". If the court recognised this to be a legitimate risk then it would fall under the exceptions to abortions of the Infant life (preservation) act, which they did.
Later career and retirement
Serving as president of the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Section of the Royal Society of Medicine
The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London.
History
The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chamber ...
from 1938 to 1939, Bourne later wrote several important books including ''A Synopsis of Midwifery and Gynaecology'', ''Recent Advances in Obstetrics and Gynecology'' with Leslie Williams and was the co-editor of ''British Obstetric and Gynaecological Practice
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
'' with Sir Eardley Holland Eardley may refer to:
* Eardley (name)
* Eardley, Quebec
*Eardley baronets
The Smith, later Eardley Baronetcy, of Hadley in the County of Middlesex, was a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 22 December 1802 for Cul ...
. An advocate of state medicine, Bourne expressed his views in ''Health of the Future'' (1942), which drew much attention to the issue in the medical field. After World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Bourne championed the admission of women students to St Mary's. He would continue serving as consulting gynaecologist at St Mary's Hospital and to the Samaritan Hospital for Women as well as consulting obstetric surgeon to Queen Charlotte's Hospital
Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital is one of the oldest maternity hospitals in Europe, founded in 1739 in London. Until October 2000, it occupied a site at 339–351 Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith, but is now located between East Acton and W ...
before his eventual retirement in 1951. In 1966, Bourne became a founding member of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children
Society for the Protection of Unborn Children is an anti-abortion organisation in the United Kingdom which also opposes assisted suicide and abortifacient birth control.
History and support
SPUC was formed in 1966 amid parliamentary debates ...
which was organised in opposition to the Abortion Act, 1967 and campaigned actively, albeit unsuccessfully against the Act. In his memoirs, Bourne wrote:Those who plead for an extensive relaxation of the law gainst abortionhave no idea of the very many cases where a woman who, during the first three months, makes a most impassioned appeal for her pregnancy to be 'finished,' later, when the baby is born, is thankful indeed that it was not killed while still an embryo. During my long years in practice I have had many a letter of the deepest gratitude for refusing to accede to an early appeal.[A. Bourne, ''A Doctor's Creed: The Memoirs of a Gynaecologist'', London, 1963]
His retirement was active; he continued to undertake private practice alongside his interests in gardening, reading, travelling, and writing. He died on 27 December 1974, aged 88.
Publications
* Recent Advances in Obstetrics and Gynæcology, 12th edition, 1962.
* Synopsis of Midwifery and Gynæcology, 13th edition, 1965.
* A Doctor's Creed, 1962 (Joint Editor).
* British Practice of Obstetrics and Gynæcology, 3rd edition, 1963.
See also
*George Lotrell Timanus
George Loutrell Timanus (January 31, 1892 – June 1981) was a physician who performed illegal abortions in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area from 1920 to 1951.
He graduated from Baltimore City College in 1910 and earned his M.D. at ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourne, Aleck
1886 births
1974 deaths
People from Chipping Barnet
20th-century English medical doctors
English gynaecologists
English anti-abortion activists
Place of death missing