Kingery said ACOG did not plan to respond to AAPLOG’s video on Twitter.
The pro-life group warned that its exclusion does damage to the medical profession.
“We wonder why ACOG is so afraid of our patients and the next generation of OB-GYNs hearing the evidence of abortion’s harm to women’s health,” Francis told CNA. “Furthermore, the scientific evidence clearly supports that abortion ends the life of a human being in the womb.”
“ACOG’s action is also harmful for pro-life students who are already self-selecting out of our specialty due to fears of discrimination — confirmed by this latest cowardly move by ACOG. If ACOG is so sure its position is evidence-based, we hope the organization will accept our invitation for a respectful and scholarly debate on the issue.”
ACOG, a professional organization for OB-GYNs, claims more than 60,000 members. The organization tends to oppose limits on legal abortion. It provides on its website a language guide for speaking about abortion that claims to be “without bias.”
“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 — and at the very least, is not medically appropriate,” the language guide says.
Its guide rejects the terms “baby” and “unborn child,” recommending journalists and others use the word “embryo” through eight weeks into pregnancy and “fetus” until delivery.
AAPLOG‘s mission is to “encourage and equip medical practitioners to provide an evidence-based rationale for defending the lives of both the pregnant mother and her unborn child.” It was a special interest group within ACOG from 1973 through 2013, when ACOG ceased to designate special interest groups, the association’s website reported. AAPLOG partners include the Catholic Medical Association.
Kevin J. Jones is a senior staff writer with Catholic News Agency. He was a recipient of a 2014 Catholic Relief Services' Egan Journalism Fellowship.