Aleck Bourne

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 asked to be arrested 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 activist.

Early life and career Born in 1886, the only son of W. C. Bourne in Barnet, Bourne was educated at Rydal School and at Downing College, Cambridge where, in 1908, he received a first class in the Natural Science Tripos. 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 (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. During the First World War 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.

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, guardsmen in the Royal Horse Guards, in a London barracks. She had first attended St. Thomas' Hospital, but was sent away by one doctor, who thought that "she might be carrying a future prime minister" and "that anyhow girls always lead men on."

His defence had been based on the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 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. In his memoirs, Bourne wrote:Those who plead for an extensive relaxation of the law [against abortion] have 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.

In 1972, Bourne was made honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

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.