HALF a decade ago, one in four pregnancies in the Hunter were terminated.
The first clinic was opened in the early 1970s by Dr Lachlan Lang, who was renowned for his professional service (as well as for wearing a bow tie to work).
"The thing that really decided that I'd go down this track was when I first became a staff specialist here, and was given the rather unpleasant job of looking after girls at the Lodge," Dr Lang said.
The Lodge was a place for young, single, pregnant women to live until they laboured and delivered their babies at the Royal Newcastle Hospital, who were then secretly adopted out. There were up to 40 young women there at any time.
"You got to know them very well, and their background, and you came to know how difficult their circumstances were, and it was very traumatic for them, and I felt there must be another alternative," Dr Lang said.
"It's unfair that this doesn't occur at the moment in the way that it should ... that things haven't developed. For a person to make that decision, that's traumatic enough, because no matter how non-religious you are or what your feelings are, it's still a huge decision, and then to have to negotiate a whole lot of hurdles is just awful. I saw it all the time."
Then, as now, there were very loud, conscientious objectors, Dr Lang said.
He started his first clinic as a salaried member of staff at the Royal Newcastle Hospital where "it wasn't very popular among some physicians". Ultimately, he switched to providing the service from his private rooms.
"My hospital-based colleagues were somewhat grateful that they didn't have to provide the service," Dr Lang said.
"In some respects, I suppose my providing the service outside removed the imperative for establishing the same service within the hospital - although I don't think with staffing as it was, it would have been easy to start up. That's a real problem. You've certainly got to have staff behind you."
In his thesis, "The history of obstetrics and gynaecology in Australia from 1950 to 2010", the late Dr Alan Hewson, himself a surgeon and obstetrician based in the Hunter for many years, confirmed Dr Lang overcome "a great deal of prejudice" to start his clinic at the Royal.
"Later, because of criticism, he left the salaried staff and offered a surgical termination service at a private clinic from 1975," Dr Hewson's paper says. "He provided a service which observed all the appropriate checks and balances required ... ensured [women] were appropriately counselled ... that the rules regarding referral and joint decisions by the referring doctor and the gynaecologist were strictly observed, and that the patients received the highest standard of medical care ... and meticulous follow up.
"That clinic continued for several years without incident and Dr Lang performed approximately 20 terminations per week." It closed in 1985 when it was replaced by a pre-term private organisation in Broadmeadow. Harassment of patients attending that clinic continued for years.
"No matter how legal it is, there's always been a very strong group who opposed it, vehemently, to the point where they can make life very uncomfortable for the people who offer the service," Dr Lang said.
