Yesterday, top leaders of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and Society of Family Planning wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post calling for “honesty” in the abortion debate.
And they honestly expressed their support for abortion on demand, at any time, for any reason.
Christopher M. Zahn, Interim Chief Executive of ACOG, and Jenni Villavicencio, Interim Director of Advocacy and Public Affairs for the Society of Family Planning, state that abortions “must be available without restrictions, without limitations and without barriers.”
Their disturbing arguments came in response to an op-ed by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser and Kellyanne Conway.
In the piece titled “If they want to win, Republicans need to go on offense on abortion,” Dannenfelser and Conway lay out a strong pro-life platform in contrast to the Democrat Party’s extremist views of abortion on demand.
The pair write:
A number of GOP officeholders and even presidential aspirants use “states’ rights” as an excuse to tape their mouths shut on abortion. This should not, and will not, stand. Will they be silent, too, on school choice, policing, community crime, homelessness and other purely local issues? No, nor should they be. Voters have the right to know where each candidate stands on abortion — with specificity.
Democrats’ message-testing instructs them to scaremonger about a GOP “national ban” with no exceptions and to avoid important realities of a child’s development — such as a heartbeat at six weeks or the evidence that unborn children can feel pain by 15 weeks. Democrats are making a radical push for abortion on demand throughout pregnancy and will try to put some version of that question on the ballot in the coming election.
Zahn and Villavicencio hit back and reinforced the extreme position of the Democrat Party, including abortion up to birth:
The misinformation perpetuated by Ms. Conway and Ms. Dannenfelser (and by the crisis pregnancy centers they wrongly praise) is commonly used to strip access to abortion from patients such as ours and prevent clinicians from providing people with evidence-based health care.
Abortion is safe. It improves and saves lives, and it must be available without restrictions, without limitations and without barriers — just as any other critical part of health care.
Safe for women? Maybe. Safe for babies? Absolutely not.
Ingrid Skop, M.D., F.A.C.O.G., a board-certified OB-GYN who has practiced in Texas for nearly 30 years and serves as vice president and director of medical affairs at Charlotte Lozier Institute responded saying:
“As an obstetrician for the last 30 years, I have advocated and cared for both of my patients—mothers and their unborn children. This brazen proclamation from ACOG, while sad to see, is reflective of a discouraging new reality: In ACOG’s leadership and the broader medical community, there’s no place for dissent on the issue of unlimited abortion for any reason, at any time in pregnancy.
“We are witnessing, in real time, a vocal, political takeover of a scientific community that represents the most honorable and beautiful profession, responsible for safely bringing new life into the world. I wish ACOG would realize that their promotion of elective abortion without limits isn’t reflective of the views of their own members, considering about 90% of practicing obstetricians will not perform an elective abortion.”