Over 30,000 doctors object to abortions during pandemic: ‘Elective abortion treats no disease’

As an unprecedented national health crisis began to unfold last week, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) had one main concern: to make sure women could use limited medical resources to end the lives of their preborn babies. Now, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and thousands of other physicians are pushing back.

As the scope of the coronavirus pandemic was becoming clear, healthcare professionals were scrambling to get ahead of a crisis that engulfed medical systems in areas of the world hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Federal and state authorities began urging citizens and medical providers to delay all non-essential medical procedures to save hospital resources for critically ill coronavirus patients. 

In this environment, the ACOG sought to fend off any potential threat to abortion while callously ignoring the potential strain on limited medical resources. “To the extent that hospital systems or ambulatory surgical facilities are categorizing procedures that can be delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic, abortion should not be categorized as such a procedure,” ACOG’s March 18th statement read. ACOG’s statement makes clear the organization does not support “COVID-19 responses that cancel or delay abortion procedures.”

In a statement released two days later, AAPLOG blasted ACOG for supporting enabling the abortion industry to continue “business as usual” while “the entire healthcare profession is being called upon to conserve resources and healthcare professionals to an extent never seen before.” Pointing out the fact that “elective abortions offer zero health benefits to women and do not treat a disease process,” AAPLOG called for “abortions to be suspended according to the current recommendations pertaining to elective procedures and office visits.”

READ: Pro-life leaders warn HHS of how the abortion industry is exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic

“Continuing to perform elective abortions during a pandemic is medically irresponsible. Abortions use up much needed resources such as masks, gloves, and other personal protective equipment. The practice also potentially generates more patients to be seen in already overburdened emergency rooms,” AAPLOG asserted. “The practice also potentially generates more patients to be seen in already overburdened emergency rooms. Approximately 5% of women who undergo medication abortions will require evaluation in the hospital, most commonly for hemorrhage. Uterine perforation and hemorrhage can occur with surgical abortions. Because most abortion providers do not manage their own complications, instead instructing women to go to an ER if they have problems, emergency rooms who are already struggling to keep up with the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to need to provide care to these women.”

On March 23rd, AAPLOG joined the American College of Pediatricians, Christian Medical & Dental Associations, the Catholic Medical Association, and the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons — who together represent over 30,000 physicians — to publish a joint statement to “decry the call to continue elective abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic made by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and others which falsely characterize elective abortion as essential healthcare.” The statement added, “Elective abortion treats no disease process,” later noting, “Services that do constitute essential health care for women, including routine Pap smears, mammograms, and pelvic exams, are being postponed in order to reduce everyone’s risk of exposure to COVID-19, and to conserve scarce medical resources.” 

Abortion Procedures: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Trimesters

Rather than being neutral on the issue, ACOG has long shown itself to be a hotbed of abortion activism and a major enabler of the abortion industry. And the group’s extreme views on abortion do not reflect the actual practices of the majority of OBGYNs. As Live Action News recently reported, a survey published in 2019 revealed that only 24% of American OBGYNs reported committing an abortion within the past year, while 76% have not. The truth is that abortion is never medically necessary, and ACOG’s use of the phrase “abortion care” is particularly deceptive, as abortion is not healthcare. 

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