Alice Bush
Encyclopedia
Alice Bush was a pioneering New Zealand
female doctor
, pediatrician and activist for family planning services and abortion
access.
, in 1933, and completed her MB and ChB in 1937. In 1938, she was appointed a Resident at the Auckland
Hospital, and became visiting doctor at Auckland's Truby King Karitane Hospital and Mothercraft Care facility in the same year.
In the forties, Alice also became involved in medical politics. She co-authored a document that recommended A National Health Service (1943) for New Zealand, after she married William Bush in 1940. Alice also served as Secretary (1945-6) and President (1948, 1953) of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Medical Women's Association. She joined the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (1946) and later became a fellow of the same organisation- the first women to do so (1955). In 1947, she spent some time in London
, where she served as a doctor at the Hospital For Sick Children in that city, before returning to New Zealand with her husband, where she helped to establish the Pediatric Society of New Zealand in that same year.
. Over time, Alice gradually radicalised her position and became one of the founders of the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand
. At the time she died, in 1974, the private Auckland Medical Aid Centre had just opened, providing a free-standing dedicated abortion clinic for the first time in New Zealand.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
female doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, pediatrician and activist for family planning services and abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
access.
Medical career
Born in 1914, Alice Stanton entered the Otago Medical School at the University of Otago, DunedinUniversity of Otago
The University of Otago in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 22,000 students enrolled during 2010.The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it...
, in 1933, and completed her MB and ChB in 1937. In 1938, she was appointed a Resident at the Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
Hospital, and became visiting doctor at Auckland's Truby King Karitane Hospital and Mothercraft Care facility in the same year.
In the forties, Alice also became involved in medical politics. She co-authored a document that recommended A National Health Service (1943) for New Zealand, after she married William Bush in 1940. Alice also served as Secretary (1945-6) and President (1948, 1953) of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Medical Women's Association. She joined the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (1946) and later became a fellow of the same organisation- the first women to do so (1955). In 1947, she spent some time in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where she served as a doctor at the Hospital For Sick Children in that city, before returning to New Zealand with her husband, where she helped to establish the Pediatric Society of New Zealand in that same year.
Family Planning and Abortion Activism
In the late forties, Alice Bush also became involved with the New Zealand Family Planning Association, helping to provide respectability to an organisation that still proved controversial, given its role in publicising and distributing contraception. She served on its board (1947) and chaired its medical advisory committee (1960), before serving as liaison with the New Zealand Medical Association and clearing the way for clinic work with doctors before New Zealand approved use and distribution of the contraceptive pill (1961). Her role is chronicled in Helen Smythe's recent history of the Family Planning Association,Alice Bush's biographer, Faye Hercock, also noted that she was concerned about the rise in backstreet abortions and displayed considerable impatience with the conservatism of her male colleagues in her later years when it came to access to safe, legal and affordable abortion in New ZealandAbortion in New Zealand
Abortion in New Zealand is currently legal in cases where the pregnant woman faces a danger to her life, physical or mental health, or if there is a risk of the fetus being handicapped, in the event of the continuation of her pregnancy...
. Over time, Alice gradually radicalised her position and became one of the founders of the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand
Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand
The Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand is New Zealand's national pro-choice advocacy group. It has existed since 1971. One of its early members was family planning doctor and pediatrician, Dr. Alice Bush . For most of the last thirty years, its President has been Dr...
. At the time she died, in 1974, the private Auckland Medical Aid Centre had just opened, providing a free-standing dedicated abortion clinic for the first time in New Zealand.