A broken code of ethics is taking over the medical community at the expense of patients’ health.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has sadly lost sight of its commitment to support practitioners and our patients. In the year that we mark the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, there is no better time for ACOG to recommit itself to medical ethics and rededicate its mission to safely caring for both maternal and fetal patients.
Not long ago, ACOG’s abortion policy set limits on abortion after viability when a baby is likely to survive after birth. But just before the Supreme Court struck down Roe, ACOG eradicated any protection for unborn children from its policy. Now their position is inflicting the ultimate harm: the intentional termination of life at any stage for any reason. Doctors in ACOG’s network should be appalled with this decision.
As a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist, I have looked to ACOG for impartial guidance in my practice of medicine for years. But what I find there now disturbs me. On top of their recently changed abortion policy, they wholeheartedly promote chemical abortion without a medical evaluation.
Delivered by mail right to a woman’s doorstep, unsupervised chemical abortion removes the counseling our patients would otherwise receive from an in-person doctor’s visit, creating a safety hazard for the mother. Many women are unaware that at-home abortions unnecessarily risk delayed detection and treatment of ectopic pregnancy, a life-threatening condition only ruled out by ultrasound. This is because the bleeding and pain associated with ectopic pregnancies is easily confused with the symptoms of a chemical abortion.
Despite these risks, ACOG has chosen to minimize the importance of a healthy doctor-patient relationship. In medical school, we are taught to revere the relationship with our patients in which both bring expertise – the patient bringing expertise in her own body and life experiences and the doctor bringing medical expertise that empowers patients with information. Together, we journey toward health and wholeness.
ACOG has willingly severed that relationship and is instead encouraging women to pursue unsupervised chemical abortion, while at the same time hailing informed consent comprised of “adequate, accurate, and understandable information.” ACOG even defines informed consent as the patient's “ability to understand and reason through ... information [with the freedom]to ask questions and to make an intentional and voluntary choice, which may include refusal of care or treatment.” But self-managed chemical abortions are, by definition, incompatible with the principles of informed consent.
Clearly, ACOG’s lax approach to medical evaluations and counseling for women who undergo chemical abortion is inconsistent with other medical standards they insist upon. For example, when treating a suspected miscarriage, ACOG holds thorough exams and ultrasounds as the gold standard for diagnoses, but when it comes to chemical abortion, they claim that ultrasounds or even in person visits are unnecessary. ACOG’s tunnel-vision focus on promoting abortion has blinded the group to its own inconsistency, despite the entreaties of members demanding the focus be on our patients.
Women deserve excellent medical care that empowers them with information, not uninformed exposure to the dangers of chemical abortion. ACOG, however, has shown little effort to provide women or their doctors with the knowledge they need to make medically sound decisions. In fact, they’ve done the exact opposite by stifling scholarly debate on abortion and ignoring the vast diversity of opinions of its members, most of whom do not perform abortions.
Most recently, ACOG cancelled the American Association of Prolife Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ exhibit at a conference in which they’ve participated for the last 15 years, all because of the group’s pro-life approach to obstetrics and gynecology. Ironically, ACOG’s conference theme this year was “Building Bridges,” something ACOG preaches but clearly does not practice. And many doctors are left wondering in what source they can safely place their trust.
Professional medical societies must do more to support health care practitioners who look to them for guidance. Fortunately, AAPLOG was established to give doctors an alternative to ACOG’s lapsed medical ethics.
For as long as Roe ruled the land, APPLOG’s stance on abortion did not waver. As they celebrate their 50th anniversary, AAPLOG continues to help rather than harm both patients entrusted to an OB/GYN’s care: the pregnant woman and her pre-born child. The numbers reflect AAPLOG’s holistic commitment to healing. In North Carolina alone, where I practice, nearly 150 physicians, midwives, and other health care practitioners participate in a nationwide network of more than 7,000 AAPLOG members, with more to come.
AAPLOG’s success proves that doctors like me desire more than one-dimensional, unsafe medical recommendations from our peers. More than anything, we want to fulfill our professional duty to protect and treat each person in accordance with sound medical standards. ACOG must recommit itself to healing, not harming, the patients entrusted to our care.
Susan Bane, MD, PhD, is a board-certified OB/GYN. She is the medical director of the Choices Women's Center in North Carolina and is an associate professor in the School of Allied Health and Sports Medicine at Barton College.
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