Dugald Baird
Dugald Baird - A Famous Scottish Professor of Medicine
Dugald Baird (1899—1986) born Beith, Ayrshire 1899, graduated in medicine from Glasgow University in 1922, then went to Aberdeen as Regius Professor of Midwifery. Dugald Baird advocated universal access to contraception and was a leading advocate of reform of the abortion laws in the 1960s.
In 1965 Professor Sir Dugald Baird delivered a lecture entitled The Fifth Freedom (which was published in the BMJ). Speaking on contraception he spoke of the need for the ''freedom from the tyranny of excessive fertility'' should be placed in the same category as the four other basic human freedoms (freedom of speech and worship, freedom from want and fear). Possibly the crucial element in making this 'fifth freedom' a reality is universal access to effective family planning. Baird divided the benefits of contraception into those affecting populations and those affecting individuals. However the BMJ predicted that ''the use of the 'pill' must lead to a considerable spread of venereal disease.'' and many medical journals of today it is often reported that there has indeed been such an increase.
His findings and methods still influence maternity care today.
Books published:
Living with the pill and other methods of contraception (1968)
Combined textbook of obstetrics and gyncology for students and practitioners (1969)
External links :
Abortion Law Reformers: Pioneers of Change - THE DOCTORS by David Paintin
Benefit and harm by J. Drife, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
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