OB-GYN group refutes major abortion lies in new fact sheet
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the abortion industry has ruthlessly sought to sell lies about abortion, including continuing to claim this gruesome, life-taking, elective procedure is healthcare. Abortion advocates erroneously claim that restricting abortion prevents women from receiving the care that they need.[1] This is a vicious lie meant to present the intentional murder of an innocent life as “healthcare,” when in reality, abortion is never medically necessary.
Thankfully, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), which represents 7,000 pro-life medical professionals, is combatting these lies with a new point-by-point fact sheet.
Lifesite News recently reported on this document, , Myth vs. Fact: Correcting Misinformation on Maternal Medical Care, which refutes the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists’ (ACOG) claim that “providing comprehensive medical care” means “working to ensure that all patients can access the full spectrum of maternal, sexual, and reproductive health care options, including abortion.” (Emphasis added.)
AAPLOG first states that ACOG “has actively opposed doctors who do not agree with the group’s radical positions, and it refuses to represent the diversity of professional views in the OB/GYN community as a whole” while “ignoring the wealth of evidence showing significant harms to women from abortion, such as adverse mental health outcomes and an increased risk of preterm birth in future pregnancies.”
Second, it refutes the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) claim that the overturning of Roe v. Wade was an “egregious” government intrusion into the medical field by noting that abortionists “often have no previous relationship with their patients and tend to leave the medical care afterwards to other physicians who either have a prior relationship with the patient or who work in her local emergency room.” Further, the mother and child are both patients that need to be considered.
One of the most common misconceptions coming from the left is that abortion is sometimes necessary to save a mother’s life, and that restricting abortion would prevent the treatment of miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. In reality, the tragic passing of a child as a side effect of treating a medical condition of the mother is not an abortion and these treatments are not classified as such. The intentional killing of an unborn child is never necessary to save the life of the mother.
AAPLOG says that “93% of practicing OB/GYNs do not perform elective abortions but have always been able to offer life-saving treatment to women and will continue to be able to do so regardless of state laws on abortion,” and that “[a]ny competent OB/GYN physician is trained to make this determination well before the threat to the mother’s life progresses to the point where death is imminent.”
Further, the treatments used for miscarriage and other complications are not prohibited by abortion restrictions. “An ectopic pregnancy requires removing an embryo to save a mother’s life so that both lives are not lost. This life-saving treatment is not prevented by any current law restricting or banning abortion,” writes the AAPLOG. A recent article by Mary Szoch, the Director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, further clarifies the course of action with an ectopic pregnancy:
“Whatever the treatment plan, in an ectopic pregnancy, the intention of the doctors is always to save the life of the mother, not to kill the child. In 90% of ectopic pregnancies…the unborn child has died prior to the discovery that the pregnancy is ectopic. In cases where the embryo is still alive, the surgery to save the mother’s life may result in the death of the child, but unlike in an abortion, the procedure itself is not intended to — and does not — directly kill the child. Importantly, the mother’s life is saved by the separation of the unborn child from the place of implantation outside the uterus — not by the death of the embryo.”
The AAPLOG fact sheet also notes that in addition to intentionally killing a child, abortion is dangerous for the mother. “The Institute of Medicine lists surgical abortion as an immutable risk factor for preterm birth,” AAPLOG says. “Women face a 35% increased risk of preterm birth in a future pregnancy after one surgical abortion and an almost 90% increase in preterm birth risk after two abortions.”
Finally, AAPLOG highlights the mental and emotional burden that abortion places on women. “From 1993 to 2018, there are at least 75 studies examining the link between abortion and mental health,” the fact sheet says. “Two-thirds of those studies showed a correlation between abortion and adverse mental health outcomes.”
Ultimately, healthcare is meant to prolong human life and resolve diseases and ailments. In contrast, abortion is an assault on a woman and a death sentence to her child.
Further, pregnancy is not a disease, but a natural, biological process. Intentionally ending that process is never a necessary part of treatment for the mother. In fact, it only causes her more harm.
Pro-lifers need to be prepared to combat the lies being spewed by the left in their dishonest attempt to protect abortion access. We urge everyone to read this document. Knowing these facts equips pro-lifers to respond to the untruths and myths, which can ultimately save lives.
[1]On Friday, September 3, 2022, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, under the direction of the Biden administration, issued an “interim rule” that takes effect immediately. This rule offers pregnant women veterans an abortion if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest or puts the woman’s life or health at risk. From p.3 of the “rule’: “VA is taking this action because it has determined that providing access to abortion-related medical services is needed to protect the lives and health of veterans.”
