(PresidentialHill.com)- Last month, a group of pro-life obstetricians and gynecologists were barred from attending the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) conference, after being informed that their views on abortion were no longer welcome.
According to The Daily Signal, a staffer from the ACNM emailed the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) notifying them that ACNM was “unable to accommodate” the group because its “mission doesn’t align with our position statement on abortion.”
“We affirm patient autonomy,” the ACNM staffer wrote.
Dr. Donna Harrison, CEO of the AAPLOG, told the Daily Signal that it is rare for obstetricians and gynecologists to perform abortions.
A 2017 study by the Guttmacher Institute found that 93 percent of obstetricians and gynecologists do not perform abortions and many don’t even refer patients for abortions.
Despite that, Dr. Harrison said, groups like the ACNM and the American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have embraced “pro-abortion activism” which she described as “one of the greatest threats to maternal health care.”
Midwife Betsy Morton, the spokeswoman for the pro-life AAPLOG, said that gynecologists and obstetricians focus on the medicine involving antenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, and gynecology. But in the last few years, pro-life midwives have experienced opposition from major organizations in their profession and the tensions have only increased since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Morton said a group of pro-life midwives had asked to use a room for worship during the annual conference of the American College of Nurse-Midwives but the request was denied. Meanwhile, the conference did honor a request for “nonbinary” bathrooms.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned the ACNM issued a statement reaffirming that the group is committed to “individual patient autonomy” in reproductive health, including abortion. The group also committed to keeping abortion “unconditionally safe and legal for all the people midwives serve.”
“The people midwives serve.”
Midwife, or in Middle English “midwif,” literally means “with woman,” not “with people.”
