CV NEWS FEED // The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) was abruptly banned from an annual medical conference days before the event, the organization’s incoming CEO revealed Monday.
“I’m here today in National Harbor, Maryland, outside of the hotel where [The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ (ACOG) Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology (CREOG)] Conference is being held,” said Dr. Christina Francis, incoming CEO of AAPLOG in an online video Monday.
“This is a conference for physicians who are educating the next generation of OBGYNs. We’ve exhibited at this conference for the last 15 years and I was planning on being inside this hotel today at our exhibit booth, which we booked last year,” Francis explained:
However 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.
Francis noted that the abrupt move by ACOG seemed to conflict with the spirit of the conference, which this year is working under the theme “Building Bridges.”
“ACOG is showing yet again that they have no desire to build bridges with those of us who disagree even a little bit with them on their position on abortion,” she said. “This is especially dangerous for medical students and residents. It normalizes intentional feticide as part of women’s healthcare, which we know that it is not.”
Excluding the pro-life organization also poses a danger to scientific progress, Francis argued, because it “suppresses scholarly debate.”
“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,” Francis pointed out:
However ACOG obviously is afraid for students and residents and for their medical educators to be exposed to any … position on abortion other than their radical position.
Despite ACOG unceremoniously ousting AAPLOG from the conference after a decade and a half of participation, Francis extended a hand to ACOG CEO Maureen Phipps.
“I’d like to openly invite Dr. Maureen Fips (check), CEO of ACOG, to a scholarly debate on the impact of elective abortion on the health of women,” Francis said:
I will 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.
RELATED: Dr. Francis recently joined CatholicVote’s EDIFY podcast. Readers can listen to that conversation by clicking here.