Pro-life doctors say they were banned from medical conference due to abortion stance

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, March 02, 2023

A group of pro-life doctors say they were banned from running an exhibit booth at a national medical conference because their beliefs on abortion differ from those of the organizers. 

In a tweet posted Monday, the American Association of Pro-Life OB/GYNs said they were "banned from attending the annual CREOG OB/GYN medical education conference this morning."

The event in question, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Council on Resident Education in Gynecology and the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics' annual meeting, was held from Monday to Wednesday at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

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????PRO-LIFE DOCTORS SILENCED: AAPLOG was *banned* from attending the annual CREOG OB/GYN medical education conference this morning. Why? @acog_org is upset that we’re telling our patients how harmful abortion is. pic.twitter.com/gaImTwfEsm

— AAPLOG (@aaplog) February 27, 2023

AAPLOG suggested it was banned from the conference because the ACOG is "upset that we're telling our patients how harmful abortion is." AAPLOG noted that they have "presented at the CREOG conference for the last 15 years." 

"Now we're shut out," the group lamented. "This is especially shameful given this year's conference theme: 'Building Bridges.'" 

In a video accompanying the tweet, incoming AAPLOG CEO Dr. Christina Francis said the conference was "for physicians who are educating the next generation of OB/GYNs."

Noting that she was "planning on being inside this hotel today at our exhibit booth, which we booked last year," Francis recalled that "Just a few days ago, after already having traveled to this area, we were informed that our exhibit booth had been canceled by ACOG."

"Despite multiple requests for an explanation as to why, the only explanation we've received is a vague explanation that we disagree with ACOG, presumably on the issue of abortion," she added.

Francis characterized the actions as inconsistent with the theme of "Building Bridges," contending that ACOG has "no desire to build bridges with those of us who disagree even a little bit with them on their position on abortion." 

"[T]his is especially dangerous for medical students and residents as it normalizes intentional feticide as part of women's healthcare," Francis warned.

She also expressed concern that the cancellation of AAPLOG's exhibit booth "suppresses scholarly debate," stressing that "scientific advancement is made through the free exchange of ideas and through critically looking at both sides of an issue and deciding which the evidence better supports."

"ACOG obviously is afraid for students and residents and for their medical educators to be exposed to any other position on abortion other than their radical position," she concluded.

Francis invited Dr. Maureen Phipps, CEO of ACOG, to "a scholarly debate on the impact of elective abortion on the health of women." She offered to meet her "anytime, anyplace so that we can present both sides of this issue and allow not only the general public but also the next generation of physicians to decide for themselves what the evidence supports." 

In an email to The Christian Post, ACOG Director of Communications Kate Connors insisted that her organization did "not plan to respond to that tweet," adding, "At the CREOG — APGO Annual Meeting, we welcome exhibitors and meeting participants that align with ACOG's and APGO's shared commitment to the advancement of evidence-based, scientific information." 

ACOG has compiled a "Guide to Language and Abortion" urging "those writing about reproductive health" to "use language that is medically appropriate, clinically accurate, and without bias" when discussing abortion. According to the guide, "Much of the language that is colloquially used to describe abortion or discuss health policies that impact abortion has a basis in anti-choice rhetoric and is inherently biased and inaccurate."

Phrases identified by ACOG as problematic include: "late-term abortion," "chemical abortion," "surgical abortion," "heartbeat bill," "fetal heartbeat," "dismemberment ban," "abortion provider," "self-induced abortion," "elective abortion," "partial-birth abortion," "womb" and "abortion-on-demand." ACOG classifies "chemical abortion" as "a biased term designed to make medication abortion sound scarier than the safe, effective medical intervention that it is."

ACOG also rejects the characterization of a "dilation & evacuation ban" to refer to restrictions on a procedure known as "dilation & evacuation" that "removes the fetus using a combination of vacuum aspiration and forceps, which can lead to disarticulation." The medical organization condemns the term "dismemberment" as an "intentional use of inflammatory, emotional language" that "centers the procedure on the fetus, rather than on the pregnant person who is the clinician's patient."

The guide also advises people not to use the terms "baby" and "unborn child" to describe a baby, stating that "centering the language on a future state of a pregnancy is medically inaccurate." It decries the phrase "elective abortion" as an effort to "diminish the value of the abortion care that many patients need," offering similar criticism of the term "abortion-on-demand" as "dismissive of the needs of pregnant people."

ACOG contends the description of "intact dilation & evaluation" as "partial-birth abortion" is "graphic, inflammatory language" that "exists to distort the clinical reality." It also advises against the use of the term "womb" because it "can be used to apply an emotional value to a human organ."

In a statement reacting to the news that AAPLOG lost access to the ACOG conference, Dr. Ingrid Skop of the pro-life research organization the Charlotte Lozier Institute asserted that "ACOG is dramatically out of touch with the vast majority of its own members who love caring for women and babies and want no part in ending any patient's life." 

"One survey found that 86% of U.S. OB-GYNs did not want to carry out abortions. Excluding pro-life obstetricians from this important educational conference is a transparent attempt by pro-abortion ACOG leaders to convince students that they are alone if they oppose abortion, which is far from the truth."