Life of the Week: Are pro-life doctors the wave of the future?

Some of the allies most needed in the fight against abortion include doctors and medical professionals (like these 12 nurses from New Jersey and the doctors featured in this magazine).

The abortion industry knows that without medical professionals, it will lose. And in many places, the number of doctors willing and ready to perform abortions has been declining.

This summer, Canada’s National Post reported on “the dwindling number of rural abortion doctors:”

It is likely happening because of advances in ultrasound technology that have led to clearer images inside the womb, argued Jack Fonseca, a spokesman for the Campaign Life Coalition.

“It allows us to see, without a doubt, that the fetus is a little human being, a person, and not some blob of tissue as the abortion industry has portrayed,” he said. “This technology is making it impossible for young doctors to lie to themselves and say, ‘I’m not killing anybody. I’m just removing a clump of cells.’ ”

Mr. Fonseca also said he believes that young people the age of newly trained physicians are increasingly on the anti-abortion side, especially in rural areas that he said are more socially conservative and religious. …

A study published by Dr. Norman [a University of British Columbia professor] in 2011…found that the number of physicians providing the service in hospitals in rural British Columbia had dropped 62% between 1998 and 2005.

Abortion Rights, a UK abortion campaign, reports being concerned about responses from medical students when they were asked about their views on abortions and their willingness to perform them.

“…The Department of Health has issued statistics showing that, although there are an increasing number of abortions taking place in the UK, fewer doctors are willing to perform them.” … In 2007, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said it was ‘aware of the slow but growing problem of trainees opting out of training in the termination of pregnancy and is therefore concerned about the abortion service of the future.’

A study done just this year in Italy also illustrates the decreasing number of doctors and medical professionals willing to participate in abortions:

A report by the Italian government has found that more than 80 per cent of gynecologists – in some areas it is believed to be as much as 91 per cent – and over 50 per cent of anesthesiologists and nurses refuse to participate in abortions, and the number is growing.

Of course, abortion supporters in the United States are concerned about the dropping rate of American doctors willing to perform abortions.

The number of abortions is decreasing, as the Guttmacher Institute reported in January, and among the reasons for that trend might be that the number of doctors willing to perform them has also gone down.

A study published in the science journal Obstetrics and Gynecology last week [in 2011] found that while 97 percent of OB-GYNs have encountered patients seeking an abortion, only 14 percent are willing to perform them, a drop from a reported 22 percent in 2008.

To this background of awakening consciences, add the work of Medical Students for Life (MedSFL). In June, eight carefully selected externs were chosen for the MedSFL Summer Fellowship. These medical-professionals-to-be “participate in a five week training by some of America’s leading bioethicists, clinicians, researchers, health economists, and legal experts.” This training includes a “an intense week-long medical ethics seminar at Princeton University led by some of the top pro-life medical ethicists in the country,” volunteer hours at a pregnancy resource center that offers medical services, and time working with experienced pro-life physicians. MedSFL writes:

Our Summer Fellows are the rising stars of the pro-life movement; many of them will go on to serve on medical boards, teach academic medicine and seek to change the pro-abortion medical culture from the inside out.  We are very pleased to present the next generation of pro-life doctors and leaders…

More details about the MedSFL 2013 Summer Fellowship can be found here.  Medical students can also find information on MedSFL’s site about forming their own pro-life group on campus or applying for the next Summer Fellowship.  Excellent training resources are offered as well, including information on the twice-annual National Speaking Tour, a video gallery, education webcasts, and a very extensive peer-reviewed library.

Here at Live Action, we cheer on the efforts of MedSFL in training pro-life doctors to be the wave of the future. This week, MedSFL and each and every pro-life doctor out there (including those in training) are our selected Life of the Week. Keep up the excellent, life-saving work!

For any readers who are interested in locating a pro-life doctor in your area, visit Priests for Life’s helpful link or check out the list provided by the Association of Pro-Life Physicians.

Editor’s Note: This summer, we will be providing you with a Life of the Week story every Friday. Our previous Life of the Week articles are here:

• Life of the Week: Coming your way soon
• Life of the Week: Marlena Diedrich and the Acts of Grace Foundation
• Life of the Week: One mom’s hopeful journey from infertility to fulfilled dreams
• Life of the Week: Rapper’s heartbreaking video on regretting abortion has 6+million views
• Life of the Week: From abortion to pro-life speaker
• Life of the Week: Two students bike to save unborn babies
• Life of the Week: Standing for life in Texas
• Life of the Week: Midwife fights against describing children as “monsters”
• Life of the Week: Eli Project gives orphans hope and homes
• Life of the Week: Defying the doctors and the odds with Trisomy 18
• Life of the Week: Noah’s Dad
• Life of the Week: Pro-life artist: “I want to put the message of love before anything else”

Please come back each Friday to find a new featured Life of the Week!