FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS, volume 7, number 26, June 19, 2008
Rescue those being led away to the slaughter, Proverbs 24:11.
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists- A Most Disturbing Proposal
On November 7, 2007 The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) and its Committee on Ethics issued Opinion #385 which calls for all obstetricians who decline directly to provide abortions to their patients to risk denial of recertification. It says in part, "Physicians and other health care professionals have the duty to refer patients in a timely manner to other providers if they do not feel that they can in conscience provide the standard reproductive service that the patients request." Several pro-life medical organizations are standing against this proposal by the ACOG, including the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA), the American Academy of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), and the Catholic Medical Association (CMA).
On March 14, 2008 HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt issued a press release, expressing disappointment of the ACOG’s opinion #385, calling it to reject this policy and to protect the conscience rights of physicians who are pro-life and do not want any part, even in referring their patients to a physician who will perform abortions. Secretary Leavitt says that this proposal, in federally funded entities, would violate federal laws against discrimination. At this time, I am unaware of how the ACOG is addressing opposition to opinion #385.
Is this issue merely an isolated event, affecting only pro-life physicians? After all, one may argue that a woman who wants an abortion will get one, even if her pro-life doctor does not refer her to an abortionist. I think not. It raises many other issues which affect all of us. For example, who makes healthcare decisions? Is it the doctor and the patient or is it the professional organization and the patient together, without the physician’s input? Is the physician required to do the professional organization’s bidding? Some would argue that a pro-life physician not referring a patient to an abortionist is preventing access to a service she desires. This is not the case at all. A woman who wants an abortion can look in the Yellow Pages and easily find a physician who will perform one. However requiring pro-life physicians to refer a patient to an abortionist is a violation of his civil rights and conscience. This, by the way, reminds me of the vital necessity Crisis Pregnancy Centers are in our culture, seeking to encourage one woman at a time to not kill her baby.
The ACOG is directed by a small number of physicians, many of whom have left clinical practice to involve themselves in this aspect of organized medicine. The turnover at the top of the ACOG is slow, increasing the chance that these leaders are out of touch with the physicians who daily work with pregnant women. They tend to push their agenda, come hell or high water. This tendency of ivory tower philosophers, theologians, and ethicists to be out of touch with their grass root constituencies guarantees a disconnect between the policy elitists and those actually working with people. We have seen this throughout history. Consider the theological liberalism of main line denominations. This has always been led by Seminary professors and bureaucrats at the denominational main office. We see the same today with college professors who have not worked in the real world for years, if ever, and who do not understand the issues business people address on a daily basis.
And then should the ACOG assert a corporate conscience over the individual rights and consciences of her members? And again, this is not limited to the ACOG. We see the same thing in the main line church and university. When the University of Colorado recently endowed a Chair of Conservative Studies it met with virulent opposition by many liberals of the intelligentsia. Pro-choice physicians at the head of the ACOG claim pro-life physicians are exhibiting intolerance in challenging opinion #385. And we hear the same intimidating tactics in political correctness at the university, main line church, and Board rooms of major corporations.
And should those physicians who refuse to refer patients to abortionists lose their credentials simply for following their own consciences? This is a terribly disturbing prospect. Political and theological liberals love to bring out the I or H words, charging us with intolerance or hatred. Should we acquiesce to their threats and intimidations? To follow the reasoning of the ACOG, a conscientious objector to war ought to lose his citizenship simply because he does not believe in war.
And by intimating that physicians who refuse to refer for abortions will not be recertified, means the ACOG is placing pro-life physicians and incompetent physicians in the same boat. No one denies the ACOG’s legitimate role in policing and removing incompetent or corrupt physicians, but surely this is different from recertifying those who refuse to refer for abortion. And we see this today in many other segments of American and western society. Those who stand against same sex marriages, who oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants, and who refuse to hire known homosexuals are viewed as hateful, intolerant, and dangerous to society.
It seems that sincere, fervent, active opposition to abortion is a thing of the past in our country. It is hardly discussed in our day. None of the present Presidential candidates hold to a pro-life position. Most of us are so far removed from the unborn who face murder that their plight is not our concern. We have lost the fight at almost every turn to legislate protection of the unborn. Does this mean we are to give up the fight? I remind you of the long, arduous battle William Wilberforce waged to eradicate slavery in Great Britain. What ought we to do, then? Should we not support our local Crisis Pregnancy Centers, and should we not, who are preachers, preach against the evils of abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia? In standing against the evils of abortion we must, at the same time, remember pro-choice people are not our enemies. They are victims of the great enemy of us all who blinds the minds of the unbelieving. We ought, therefore, speak directly but compassionately to them, urging them to believe in the giver of eternal life, the Lord Jesus. We dare not remain silent, even if some in our congregations accuse us of being political. This is no more a political issue than was slavery in the 19th century. This is an issue of justice. And while we cannot become single issue voters, we still should weigh carefully the views of those running for local and national public office.
My long time friend, Dr. Robert Christmas, an OBGYN, was very helpful to me in writing this devotional.
FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS is a weekly devotional by Reverend Al Baker, pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut.
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