William Liley
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Sir Alfred William Liley (1929-1983) was a pioneering New Zealand fetal surgeon, as well as one of the founders of the New Zealand Society for Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC- now Voice for Life.) Liley graduated from Otago Medical School at the University of Otago in Dunedin in 1954. He is best remembered for his innovative intrauterine blood transfusions for Rh-affected fetuses. He was awarded fellowships with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and became a member of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of the Sciences.
Liley was renowned as a pioneering fetal surgeon. Liley was also a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand and his work helped iave the New Zealand pro-life movement scientific credibility that it might not have enjoyed. However, he was interviewed for the "World Life League", an offshoot of the pro-life US American Life League in 1977. In this interview, Liley reveals that much of his assertions about fetal sentience and awareness were based on retrospective inferences, given that much of his late-term fetal surgery was performed well after what would become the maximum point for most abortions in New Zealand and other western societies.
According to Monica Casper's work on his pioneering foetal surgical practice, Liley was a devout Presbyterian, whose religious belief in embryonic and fetal 'sentience' was perceived by himself and other pro-lifers as corroborated through his medical work.
His suicide marked a sad end to an illustrious career. Posthumously, there are three references to his professional life and its implications for the New Zealand abortion debate. These include a reference in the Yearbook of the Royal Society of New Zealand (1997) and a tribute from an Australian pro-life group, Foundation Genesis. His American Life League interview is recorded in a booklet entitled The Tiniest Humans (1977). It was conducted by Robert Sassone, and included additional comments from French geneticist and pro-lifer Jerome Lejeune, and is available on that organisation's website.
In 1996, Monica Casper wrote a volume on the politics of fetal surgery, and made extensive references to Liley's pioneering professional role in intrauterine blood transfusions for Rh-affected fetuses at National Women's Hospital, where he worked. Casper's book is more neutral than that of Foundation Genesis, given her absence of affiliation to the abortion debate, and while she does cite anti-abortion sources in her bibliography, her work can be read as a neutral perspective on the life and work of one of New Zealand's medical pioneers.
William also had a wife and family which he loved dearly. There is now in place a 'Liley' Medal as a memoir for him, presented annually to a scientist.
[edit] Bibliography
- "Sir Alfred William Liley" in Yearbook of the Royal Society of New Zealand: 1997:2:34-41.
- Sir William Liley: A Tribute to the Father of Fetology: Strathfield, New South Wales: Foundation Genesis: 1984: ISBN 0-9591115-0-6
- Robert Sassone, Jerome Lejeune and William Liley: The Tiniest Humans: Strafford, Virginia: American Life League: 1977: [1]
- Monica Casper: Treating the Unborn Patient: A Social Anatomy of Fetal Surgery: New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press: 1998: ISBN 0-8135-2516-0
- Monica Casper: Fetal Transfusion at National Women's Hospital: Auckland: National Women's Hospital: 1996.
