The American Association of ProLife Obstetricians and Gynecologists Responds to the ACOG Promulgated "Limitations of Conscientious Refusal."
Contact: Joe DeCook, MD, American Association of ProLife Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), 616-644-5313
MEDIA ADVISORY, Feb. 20 /Christian Newswire/ -- In Nov 07, the (ACOG) American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology's Ethics Committee issued a formal Opinion titled "The Limits of Conscientious Refusal In Reproductive Medicine." This Opinion warns Ob/Gyn doctors that their practice pattern can be considered "unethical" by ACOG standards if they do not either do abortions, or refer patients desiring an abortion to an abortion provider. The Opinion goes so far as to suggest that pro-life doctors should locate their office in proximity to an abortion provider, for the convenience of such patients. The American Board of Ob/Gyn in January 08, published revised standards for doctors seeking recertification (which maintains their professional reputation in good standing). The revised standards are tied to ACOG Ethics compliance. This is a raw power play to cripple, and ultimately eliminate from practice, those doctors who hold a conscience conviction on the sanctity of human life, and refuse to have a part in doing, or referring for, the elective, deliberate taking of an unborn human life.
The American Association of ProLife Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) objects strenuously to this attempt, by a professional medical organization (ACOG), using "ethics violations" and "denial of recertification" as a battering ram, to force pro-life doctors into pro-choice compliance. This country has, since its beginnings, honored the legitimate conscience convictions of its citizens. Pro-life doctors refuse either to electively kill the unborn, or to become an accomplice to such killing by referral to an abortionist. This is a legitimate conscience conviction held by AAPLOG members, and by many other physicians in various specialties.
The Position Statement issued by AAPLOG on Feb 6. 2008, concludes, "... it seems that the (ACOG) Ethics Committee does not understand the strength and depth of a conscience conviction against the elective, deliberate taking of an unborn human life. This is not a negotiable issue for those who hold this conviction. The United States Supreme Court allowed elective abortion to be a legal right. The U.S. Supreme Court is not an infallible moral guide for a person's conscience, as evidenced by a previous similar egregious ruling.7 (This references the infamous 1857 Dred Scott decision, in which the US Supreme court, by a 7-2 majority, concluded that Africans are "beings of an inferior order" than the white race, and slaves are property devoid of all rights of legal redress for grievances. The US Supreme court got it wrong in 1887, and they made the same mistake in 1973 in Roe vs. Wade: Unborn children are fully human, and are entitled to the same right to life as the rest of society.)
The complete AAPLOG Statement may be accessed at www.aaplog.org/responsetoacogethicscommittee385.htm
