The AMA has resolved to give more support for medical students training in abortion, creating pressures for medical students who object to the procedure.
At a special November online meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates – the organization’s policy-making body – met to discuss issues facing the AMA, among which was the issue of abortion and training medical students to commit abortion procedures.
According to Med Page Today, one California delegate called abortion a “critical critical aspect of caring for our patients” and stated that a lack of abortion access “disproportionately impacts childbearing people of color from low income backgrounds.” The abortion industry targets low-income women of color, and Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion business in the United States, was founded by noted eugenicist Margaret Sanger, whose legacy the business defended for decades.
The stance comes as no surprise, as the AMA has a strong pro-abortion stance and has repeatedly opposed pro-life pregnancy centers, opposed the former administration’s Protect Life Title X rule, and condemned Texas’ pro-life SB8 law.
The AMA delegates debated whether such a curriculum should be default and require students to opt out, with at least one delegate raising objections to the idea. “[…] I believe that an opt-out curriculum raises the sense of pressure and requirement that may compel medical students who otherwise are not comfortable with participating in abortion education to feel pressure to participate in such fashion, for fear of being negatively perceived by the faculty or fellow students as being lazy or uninterested, which may show up on their evaluations,” said one Ky Viet Quach, MD. “An opt-in option enables students who want to participate, to actively sign up, and those who don’t want to for whatever reason, whether it be personal, religious, or moral, to bypass without consequences.”
However Dr. Quach’s concerns were summarily dismissed.
“While I appreciate the physicians are still human beings and individuals who bring their own morals and values to their practice, we should not be allowed to impose restrictions on legal and evidence-based care for patients,” a delegate from Nevada replied.
According to the AMA’s website, the measure appears to have been adopted. The AMA’s president, however, denied that students with conscience objections would experience any negative blowback. “The AMA recognizes the value of an immersive and comprehensive educational experience for residents and medical students in the provision of abortion care – while still respecting personal, religious, and moral convictions of all trainees,” said Dr. Gerald E. Harmon.
Physicians’ conscience objections have come under fire this year around the world. Around the U.S., abortion activists have been seeking to force pro-life physicians to partake in abortion against their own consciences, as Live Action News reported. U.S. Attorney General Xavier Becerra dropped charges against the University of Vermont Medical Center, which had forced a nurse to participate in an abortion — an act signaling that the Biden administration would oppose conscience protections. In June, the European Union (EU) Parliament voted to approve a resolution that called for the removal of pro-life conscientious objection legislation in member States. And a judge in New Zealand ruled that a physician’s right to conscientious objection does not trump the “right” of women to obtain abortions.
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