When it comes to the abortion pill, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) seems to believe that access to abortion is high priority. To pursue this end, the ACOG has not only downgraded health recommendations in service to abortion access, but has also opposed the promotion of abortion pill reversal treatments for women who may change their minds during a chemical abortion.
But as OB/GYN Dr. Christina Francis, Chair of the American Academy of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), pointed out in a recent interview, the priorities of the pro-abortion ACOG do not reflect the views of most practicing OBGYNs.
“You know, they claim to represent 60,000 OB-GYNs, and yet they really don’t represent the vast majority of their membership when it comes to abortion,” Dr. Francis told Pregnancy Help News.
According to a 2019 study published by Obstetrics & Gynecology, less than one in four OB-GYNs committed an abortion in the past year, despite the vast majority encountering patients requesting one. A 2011 study found that only 14% of practicing OB-GYNs commit abortions, and much more recent studies have shown that 85% of OB/GYNs do not commit abortions, and a 2017 Guttmacher Institute release revealed that “[o]nly 7% of U.S. obstetrician-gynecologists who work in private practice settings provided abortions in 2013 or 2014.” Over a third — 35% — refused to even refer patients for abortions.
READ: Once again, ACOG updates its recommendations to keep in step with abortion industry
The fact that the ACOG is out of step with the views and practices of a super-majority of its members is not new. The group has long held abortion and access to abortion as a key priority. In 2016, the ACOG released a statement opposing any bans on sex selection and late-term abortions — a position a majority of Americans view as extreme.
The ACOG’s then-president Mark S. DeFrancesco justified the group’s position under the guise of women’s health. “Access to reproductive services, including abortion care, is essential for millions of American women. Restricting abortions on the basis of a woman’s reason for needing one is not medically appropriate and endangers the health of women,” DeFrancesco said according to the statement.
But the reality that three quarters of OB-GYNs refused to commit abortions speaks to their understanding of the heart of the science at question, in contradiction to the ACOG’s vociferous abortion advocacy. The fact is that deliberately destroying a preborn human being is never medically necessary, and that abortion is not health care, contrary to the advocacy talking points of the nation’s leading professional organization for OB-GYNs.
The ACOG’s views are rooted in ideology, not science, as their shift in policy to favor abortion access shows. As Dr. Francis said to Pregnancy Help News, “I always tell people, yes, please follow the science because I know exactly where it’s going to lead you. It’s going to lead you to the side of life, and it’s going to lead you to the fact that abortion isn’t good for women. It harms them.”
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