ACOG engaging in tyranny of consensus

[Guest guest]

All who can access and read the ACOG ethics committee document entitled

" The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine "

(www.acog.org/from_home/publications/ethics/co385.pdf), and especially

OB/GYNs, should be greatly alarmed at how brazenly tyrannical ACOG has

become. It would appear to be now the time for concerted action to

confront this before it is too late. Or is it already too late?

Sincerely yours,

Dominic M. Pedulla MD, FACC, CNFPMC, ABVM, ACPh

Varicoseveins1@...

Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, OU Health Sciences Center

Medical Director, The Oklahoma Vein and Endovascular Center

President, The Edith Stein Foundation

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[Guest guest]

One would think that AAPLOG (American

Assoc of Pro-Life OBGyns), which I believe is part of ACOG, would have

something to say on the matter.

, MD

Front Royal, VA

From:

nfpprofessionals [mailto:nfpprofessionals ] On Behalf Of Sandrock

Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007

2:22 PM

To:

nfpprofessionals

Subject: Re:

ACOG engaging in " tyranny of consensus "

I am alarmed to say the least. I was wondering if

there was going to be any discussion about the statement on this list serve. My

understanding is that a large group of physicians, comprising members of

several different pro-life types groups have written an objection to ACOG.

Here is a copy of the article I read:

Thousands of U.S.

Doctors Ask Ob/Gyn College to Stop Forcing Physicians to Refer for Abortion

WASHINGTON, DC, December 12, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The United States'

largest faith-based association of physicians, the 15,000-member Christian

Medical Association (http://www.cmda.org),

joined other leading national organizations yesterday in challenging The

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) to stop its attack

on the conscience rights of pro-life physicians.

A letter, drafted by the CMA and signed by other national organizations,

blasted ACOG's Committee on Ethics position statement, " The Limits of

Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine. " CMA's letter noted that

the statement " suggests a profound misunderstanding of the nature and

exercise of conscience, an underlying bias against persons of faith and an

apparent attempt to disenfranchise physicians who oppose ACOG's political

activism on abortion. "

CMA CEO s, MD said, " ACOG is not only out of touch with

conscience-driven physicians, but also with our long-standing American

tradition to protect the rights of citizens to not participate in conscience-violating

actions-especially when those actions would take a human life. That American

tradition rests on constitutional principles of religious freedom and

speech. "

ACOG's position paper targets pro-life physicians, insisting that abortion-objecting

physicians refer patients to get abortions and declaring that physicians who

will not participate in conscience-violating procedures and prescriptions

must actually move close to doctors who will.

Dr. s added, " Many physicians had been realizing that because of

their aggressive abortion lobbying, ACOG officials do not represent the values

of most physicians and mainstream medicine. This statement goes a step beyond

not representing our life-affirming values to actually advocating policies to prevent

us from exercising those values. ACOG's attitude seems to be, 'If you don't toe

the ACOG line on abortion, the 'morning-after pill,' and the application of

reproductive technology, then you shouldn't be practicing obstetrics--and

if you do, we're going to do everything in our power to force you to

accommodate our abortion agenda. "

CMA Executive Vice President Gene Rudd, MD, an obstetrician and gynecologist,

noted, " I have withdrawn my ACOG membership of over 25 years. My

conscience can no longer support their lack of conscience. ACOG's strategy

seeks to marginalize dissenting opinions. I as an obstetrician have a moral

obligation not only to act in my patient's best interest, but also in the best

interest of the developing baby, and of society as a whole. "

See the CMA letter:

http://www.cmda.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Right_of_Conscience & TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm & CONTENTID=11270

See the ACOG position statement:

http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/ethics/co385.pdf

<<and especially

OB/GYNs, should be greatly alarmed at how brazenly tyrannical ACOG has

become. It would appear to be now the time for concerted action to

confront this before it is too late. Or is it already too late?>>

I think we have been heading down this path a long time. I have a hard time

accepting their logic. It is as if they are saying " if you are trained to

do it, then you must do it " . How can they treat the issue like this when

thousands of physicians are trained in Obstetrics and Gynecology, yet they do

not offer their services when it comes to obstetrics, and the physician has

decided to only offer gynecology? Are we to be " mandated " in essence

to offer every service for which we have been trained in the past? I say of

course not. In my point of view, Contraception is a service like any other and

I choose not to offer it. Period. End of Story. I am irritated. The one

blessing for me is that I can say I am not a member of ACOG, but traditionally

" sister " types organizations, like ACNM- of which I *am* a member,

tend to urge us to agree and comply with ACOG as much as possible. I have not

heard anything from ACNM about this opinion of ACOG yet.

Sandrock, CNM

__________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

12-12-07Dear AAPLOG Colleague,The ACOG Ethics Committee meets again in March. So you will have time to get your letter to them. You may wonder why we are pushing this so hard. The answer is very straightforward. Since 1994, the ACOG has made several very strong steps pursuing an agenda that will eventually l) limit your practice according to the ACOG idea of conscience freedom, and 2) eventually establish elective abortion as the Standard of Care in American Ob-Gyn practice. When (2) is accomplished, it won't really matter what your conscience convictions are. You will be practicing out of the accepted Standard of Care. The "Opinion" uses the word "standard" 5 times. Each time, the context implies elective abortion as a "standard" in providing reproductive health services. One has to be blind not to see where ACOG is going with this. And they will get there unless a large number of pro-life doctors make their voices heard. Have you written yet? One line is enough! They need to hear from you! Write to:President Noller, MD,With copy toRalph Hale, M.D.Executive Vice PresidentAddress for both:The American College of Obstetrics & Gynecologist409 12th Street, S.W.Washington, D.C. 20090-6920THE FOLLOWING IS ONE OF THE MOST RECENT LETTERS SENT TO DR. NOLLER. IT WILL BE WORTH YOUR TIME TO READ IT.RE: "The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine"ACOG Committee Opinion #385, November 2007Dear Dr. Hale,I have just reviewed the current committee opinion published by the ACOG ethics committee entitled "The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine" and I am absolutely appalled that this was published by ACOG. As an ethicist who has chaired a hospital bioethics committee for years, I am absolutely trembling at the total disregard of ethical principals in this article. This is not an ethics committee opinion, but rather a document disguised as an ethics statement that promotes the pro-choice right-to-abortion-on-demand stance of ACOG. Every first semester student of ethics learns that autonomy must be balanced by the other principles of ethics. Any one principle of ethics cannot trump all of the others, otherwise there is distortion of truth and the dominant principle ends up skewing the analysis. The end result often is anything but ethical. ACOGs committee opinion #385 is an excellent example of the collapse of ethical decision making when patient autonomy is allowed to dominate over every other principle of ethics.I have been a member of ACOG since I was a junior fellow, and have served in ACOG committee membership and leadership roles for my entire professional career. Never before have I had such a pit in my stomach about the extreme divergence that the college continues to take, alienating physicians from membership who continue to have high moral values and the integrity to maintain those values. ACOG seems to have no issues with enforcing its own collective moral conscience, or lack thereof, on me and other physicians like me.Publishing such a document is irresponsible and reprehensible. The most appropriate action by the College would be to rescind this document.……………………………………AAPLOG AGREES FULLY WITH THE ABOVE. (AND WITH THE PREVIOUS LETTER COPIES WE HAVE SENT TO YOU.See AOL's top rated recipes and easy ways to stay in shape for winter.

[Guest guest]

Is there any value in non-OBG family physicians (who will be impacted by this) writing to ACOG?

Poehailos, MD

Family Medicine, Charlottesville VA

-------------- Original message -------------- From: SotomayorMD@...

12-12-07Dear AAPLOG Colleague,The ACOG Ethics Committee meets again in March. So you will have time to get your letter to them. You may wonder why we are pushing this so hard. The answer is very straightforward. Since 1994, the ACOG has made several very strong steps pursuing an agenda that will eventually l) limit your practice according to the ACOG idea of conscience freedom, and 2) eventually establish elective abortion as the Standard of Care in American Ob-Gyn practice. When (2) is accomplished, it won't really matter what your conscience convictions are. You will be practicing out of the accepted Standard of Care. The "Opinion" uses the word "standard" 5 times. Each time, the context implies elective abortion as a "standard" in providing reproductive health services. One has to be blind not to see where ACOG is going with this. And they will get there unless a large number of pro-life doctors make their voices hea

rd. Have you written yet? One line is enough! They need to hear from you! Write to:President Noller, MD,With copy toRalph Hale, M.D.Executive Vice PresidentAddress for both:The American College of Obstetrics & Gynecologist409 12th Street, S.W.Washington, D.C. 20090-6920THE FOLLOWING IS ONE OF THE MOST RECENT LETTERS SENT TO DR. NOLLER. IT WILL BE WORTH YOUR TIME TO READ IT.RE: "The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine"ACOG Committee Opinion #385, November 2007Dear Dr. Hale,I have just reviewed the current committee opinion published by the ACOG ethics committee entitled "The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine" and I am absolutely appalled that this was published by ACOG. As an ethicist who has chaired a hospital bioethics committee for years, I am absolutely trembling at the total disregard of ethical principals in this article. T

his is not an ethics committee opinion, but rather a document disguised as an ethics statement that promotes the pro-choice right-to-abortion-on-demand stance of ACOG. Every first semester student of ethics learns that autonomy must be balanced by the other principles of ethics. Any one principle of ethics cannot trump all of the others, otherwise there is distortion of truth and the dominant principle ends up skewing the analysis. The end result often is anything but ethical. ACOGs committee opinion #385 is an excellent example of the collapse of ethical decision making when patient autonomy is allowed to dominate over every other principle of ethics.I have been a member of ACOG since I was a junior fellow, and have served in ACOG committee membership and leadership roles for my entire professional career. Never before have I had such a pit in my stomach about the extreme divergence that the college continues to take, al

ienating physicians from membership who continue to have high moral values and the integrity to maintain those values. ACOG seems to have no issues with enforcing its own collective moral conscience, or lack thereof, on me and other physicians like me.Publishing such a document is irresponsible and reprehensible. The most appropriate action by the College would be to rescind this document.……………………………………AAPLOG AGREES FULLY WITH THE ABOVE. (AND WITH THE PREVIOUS LETTER COPIES WE HAVE SENT TO YOU.

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