Anti-abortion obstetricians and gynecologists say they are being threatened for their beliefs.
The group cited a November 2007 opinion by American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology's (ACOG) Ethics Committee titled "The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine."
The opinion warns Ob/Gyn doctors that their practice pattern can be considered "unethical" by ACOG standards if they do not either do abortions, or refer patients desiring an abortion to an abortion provider.
The opinion suggests anti-abortion doctors should locate their office in proximity to an abortion provider, for the convenience of such patients.
The American Board of Ob/Gyn published its revised standards for doctors seeking recertification in January 2008 which are tied to ACOG Ethics compliance.
Anti-abortion Ob/Gyns called the move "a raw power play to cripple, and ultimately eliminate from practice, those doctors who hold a conscience conviction on the sanctity of human life, and refuse to have a part in doing, or referring for, the elective, deliberate taking of an unborn human life."
The American Association of ProLife Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) said it objects strenuously to this attempt, by a professional medical organization (ACOG), using "ethics violations" and "denial of recertification" as a battering ram, to force pro-life doctors into pro-choice compliance."
APPLOG issued a position statement earlier this month, concluding: "... it seems that the (ACOG) Ethics Committee does not understand the strength and depth of a conscience conviction against the elective, deliberate taking of an unborn human life. This is not a negotiable issue for those who hold this conviction. The United States Supreme Court allowed elective abortion to be a legal right. The U.S. Supreme Court is not an infallible moral guide for a person's conscience, as evidenced by a previous similar egregious ruling."
The group pointed, as an example, to the 7-2 court majority that concluded that Africans are "beings of an inferior order" than the white race, and slaves are property devoid of all rights of legal redress for grievances.
"The U.S. Supreme court got it wrong in 1887, and they made the same mistake in 1973 in Roe vs. Wade: Unborn children are fully human, and are entitled to the same right to life as the rest of society," AAPLOG said.
