Project Letter to the Editor
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada

Re: Access to Emergency Contraception

8 August, 2004

Dr. Jeffrey A. Nisker,
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada
Room 9-E20, University Campus
London Health Sciences Centre,
London, Ontario
Canada N6A 5A5

Dear Dr. Nisker:

The enclosed document is further to our previous correspondence and the final article by Professors Cook and Dickens published in the Journal (Cook RJ, Dickens BM, Access to emergency contraception [letter] J.Obstet Gynaecol Can 2004; 26(8):706).

The document is an appendix to a Project Report that has not been made public. It has been edited to remove potentially identifying references. I am not submitting it for publication, as you indicated in the Journal that nothing more would be published on the subject. However, I reiterate my previously expressed concern about misleading legal claims, and I think that this information may be relevant to future editorial decisions.

Professors Cook and Dickens suggested that their articles did not afford them the scope "for fully referenced legal or ethical reasoning." Perhaps they would have incorporated more of the information in the enclosed document it they had been allowed to write at greater length. Please consider allowing them more space in the Journal in future.

Sincerely,

(Sean Murphy)
Administrator

Note: Dr. Nisker was no longer Editor-in-Chief of the Journal when he received this letter. The letter and enclosure were forwarded to his replacement, Dr. Tim Rowe of Vancouver General Hospital.  The details in the appendix were later published on the Project website as Postscript for the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada: Morgentaler vs. Professors Cook and Dickens.