After concurring with the Surgeon General’s call to suspend elective surgeries so as to conserve hospital resources during the COVID-19 outbreak, a group of leading medical organizations is now calling on hospitals to continue performing abortions.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG), along with several other related organizations, issued a statement Wednesday urging the killing of the unborn to continue apace despite the coronavirus pandemic.
“To the extent that hospital systems or ambulatory surgical facilities are categorizing procedures that can be delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic, abortion should not be categorized as such a procedure,” the groups said. “Abortion is an essential component of comprehensive health care.”
Just two days earlier, the same organizations had issued a press release favoring delaying elective medical procedures in which they stated:
The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health crisis that requires the full attention and resources of our health care systems. The pandemic is and will create stress and pressure on health care systems throughout the country, especially in under-resourced areas…. Some health systems, at the guidance of the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, are implementing plans to cancel elective and non-urgent procedures to expand hospitals’ capacity to provide critical care.
While elective surgery can serve important roles in furthering patient wellbeing, we endorse the Surgeon General’s statement regarding elective surgery.
Apparently, however, there is one exception to this endorsement. In their Wednesday release, the groups said they “do not support COVID-19 responses that cancel or delay abortion procedures. Community-based and hospital-based clinicians should consider collaboration to ensure abortion access is not compromised during this time.” Their reasoning? “The consequences of being unable to obtain an abortion profoundly impact a person’s life, health, and well-being.”
Not all women’s health professionals agree with these organizations’ radical pro-abortion stance. The American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), in fact, called the other groups on their hypocrisy.
“In such an uncertain and tumultuous time, the entire healthcare profession is being called upon to conserve resources and healthcare professionals to an extent never seen before,” AAPLOG said in a press release. “And yet, in the midst of this call, where hospitals are postponing elective procedures and many outpatient clinics are rescheduling non-essential office visits, the abortion industry continues with business as usual.”
“Continuing to perform elective abortions during a pandemic is medically irresponsible,” the group declared. “Abortions use up much needed resources such as masks, gloves, and other personal protective equipment.”
AAPLOG also pointed out that abortions frequently result in complications requiring further medical attention, which “potentially generates more patients to be seen in already overburdened emergency rooms.”
Contrary to the pro-abortion groups’ contention that “abortion is an essential component of comprehensive health care,” AAPLOG maintained, “Elective abortions offer zero health benefits to women and do not treat a disease process.” In this the group echoed the sentiments expressed in an open letter to Congress that its executive director and other medical organizations’ leaders signed last year: “Abortion treats no disease. Pregnancy is not a disease, and deliberately killing the unborn child by abortion is not healthcare.”
“ACOG does not represent its membership in this claim, since more than 85% of OB/GYN’s do not perform abortions. If abortion was an ‘essential component’ of women’s health care, it would be a part of most, if not all, of our practices,” noted AAPLOG.
The group went on to point out that other genuinely essential services such as cervical cancer screenings and mammograms are being postponed during the coronavirus. If these potentially lifesaving services can be delayed, surely the life-taking procedure of abortion can be put on hold for the duration. In its statement, AAPLOG “calls for abortions to be suspended according to the current recommendations pertaining to elective procedures and office visits.”
As of this writing, COVID-19 has killed fewer than 300 Americans. Meanwhile, according to the American Life League, abortion kills over 1,700 unborn Americans every day. It is, therefore, virtually certain that far more lives would be saved by halting abortions until the coronavirus threat has passed than by imposing vast, unprecedented, and unconstitutional restrictions on our civil liberties supposedly to prevent COVID-19 deaths.
Photo: Geribody/iStock/Getty Images Plus
Michael Tennant is a freelance writer and regular contributor to The New American.
