By Dave Andrusko
On Wednesday I wrote about an astonishing missive from the abortion-happy ACOG-the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The Washington Post—no friend of ours—had run an op-ed by two pro-lifers which provoked a response from ACOG and the Society of Family Planning which blended together a firm pat on their own backs along with a condescending attitude towards pro-lifers.
What caught my attention (obviously) was their amazing conclusion: Abortion “improves and saves lives, and it must be available without restrictions, without limitations and without barriers — just as any other critical part of health care.”
I was almost speechless. NO limitations? None at all?
Actually that was exactly what they wrote, that was what they demanded.
They wanted what they wanted and they didn’t want anyone to interfere with those tireless protections for women. And of course—although nowhere stated—they wanted to ply their gruesome trade up until what would have been the baby’s birth.
I mentioned that we had published several pieces recently about the King of late-term abortions—Warren Hern. In a profile written for The Atlantic Elaine Godrey accurately describes him “The Abortion Absolutist.”
Godfrey says Hern’s career
“has persisted through the entire arc of Roe v. Wade, its nearly 50-year rise and fall. He specializes in abortions late in pregnancy—the rarest, and most controversial, form of abortion. This means that Hern ends the pregnancies of women who are 22, 25, even 30 weeks along. Although 14 states now ban abortion in most or all circumstances, Colorado has no gestational limits on the procedure. Patients come to him from all over the country because he is one of only a handful of physicians who can, and will, perform an abortion so late.”
ACOG, the Society of Family Planning, and Warren Hern. What a trio.
As it happens I missed this story from back on March 1. Written by Kevin J. Jones, it was headlined “Pro-life OB-GYNs are banned from hosting exhibit booth at medical conference.”
An association of pro-life obstetricians has literally been canceled by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
For the past 15 years, the group has had an exhibit booth at the annual conference of the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology (CREOG) and the Association of Professors of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (APGO), which is hosted by ACOG.
This year, without warning, leaders of the pro-life doctors’ group arrived at the conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center in National Harbor, Maryland, only to be told that their exhibit booth had been canceled.
What could ACOG say?This was pretty blatant retaliation. Rachel Kingery, senior manager of media relations and communications at ACOG, did respond—tersely—to Jones:
“At the CREOG-APGO Annual Meeting, we welcome exhibitors and meeting participants that align with ACOG’s and APGO’s shared commitment to the advancement of evidence-based, scientific information,” she said Tuesday.
Kingery said ACOG did not plan to respond to AAPLOG’s video on Twitter.
Why bother to respond, right? You’d have to explain how after 15 years of pro-life, suddenly the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians (AAPLOG) didn’t “align with ACOG’s and APGO’s shared commitment to the advancement of evidence-based, scientific information”?
Dr. Christina Francis, CEO of AAPLOG, told Jones
After allowing AAPLOG to exhibit at the APGO/CREOG conference for 15 years, ACOG has suddenly decided that our evidence-based support of the lives of our patients no longer fits its political narrative,” she said. “ACOG’s exclusion of pro-life voices will most hurt the people that OB-GYNs are sworn to serve: our patients.”
Dr. Francis took to social media to register her disappointment
and to challenge the head of ACOG, Dr. Maureen Phipps, to a debate about “the impact of elective abortion on the health of women.”
“I will meet her anytime, any place so that we can present both sides of this issue and allow not only the general public but also the next generation of physicians to decide for themselves what the evidence supports,” Francis said in a video message posted to Twitter.
AAPLOG‘s mission is to “encourage and equip medical practitioners to provide an evidence-based rationale for defending the lives of both the pregnant mother and her unborn child.” Jones wrote, “It was a special interest group within ACOG from 1973 through 2013, when ACOG ceased to designate special interest groups, the association’s website reported. AAPLOG partners include the Catholic Medical Association.”
What a coincidence!