Last week, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) called for states to repeal pro-life laws because they “are preventing ob-gyns and other clinicians from providing health care to their patients.” ACOG specifically condemned “attempts to misuse examples of tragic deaths that result from abortion bans” by “groups aiming to advance their harmful anti-abortion political agenda.”
As a board-certified OB-GYN who practices in Texas, a state with a pro-life law, I’m appalled at these claims. Over my 30-year career, I have cared for pregnant women and delivered over 5,000 babies. After Texas enacted its pro-life law, the quality medical care I provide did not change nor has the law prevented me from caring for my patients, even in cases of pregnancy emergencies.
I am not alone in this understanding of the law. Under every pro-life law, physicians can intervene to save women’s lives in pregnancy emergencies. In fact, according to a recent Texas Health and Human Services Commission report, physicians reported 116 abortions for medical emergencies and physical health between July 2022 and May 2024.
The Supreme Courts of Texas and Idaho have further clarified that the threat does not need to be “immediate” or death “certain” before a physician may intervene. Prior to the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, many religiously-based hospital systems did not allow elective abortions, but had—and still have—protocols in place to assist doctors in decision-making and documentation if an abortion was necessary to protect a mother’s life. These protocols were followed without confusion before Dobbs.
However, ACOG has remained silent and refused to provide education and support for doctors who are confused about these laws. This is a remarkable departure from the guidance medical associations have historically provided when new laws impact the medical profession. For example, there are many laws regulating the prescription of opioids, and professional medical societies meticulously ensure practitioners understand the laws and are properly prescribing the drugs. There should be ongoing educational efforts by our professional societies, including ACOG, to help physicians understand new laws and practices. We have seen how a lack of guidance can exacerbate physician confusion and lead to deadly consequences.
The tragic deaths of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller in Georgia followed complications from the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol and cannot be attributed to pro-life laws, as ACOG claims. Thurman died from sepsis when abortion drugs failed to expel all the pregnancy tissue from her uterus. Notably, the FDA’s removal of safeguards, allowing access to these drugs without in-person testing or medical supervision, occurred prior to Dobbs.
Predictably, the mainstream media and abortion industry, including ACOG, blame Georgia’s law protecting unborn life once a heartbeat can be detected, rather than the complication noted by the FDA’s black box warning on mifepristone. They also conveniently ignored the deaths of other young women from sepsis following mifepristone use, including Alyona Dixon in Nevada and Holly Patterson in California, because these states have no pro-life laws to blame.
No state, including Georgia, criminalizes the use of a D&C procedure to remove the tissue of a deceased child in these tragic circumstances. Indeed, this procedure would not even count as an abortion under Georgia law, which explicitly defines abortion as requiring “the purpose to terminate a pregnancy with knowledge that termination will … cause the death of an unborn child.”
ACOG surely knows this, but their goal isn’t the truth. Instead, it’s to turn concerned Americans against pro-life laws and repeal them while promoting unlimited, all-trimester abortion. They refuse to acknowledge that physician confusion and injured women are a direct result of intentional misrepresentation of the laws by pro-abortion media and the failure of medical organizations, like ACOG themselves, to help doctors understand the laws.
These pro-abortion actions by ACOG are unfortunately not surprising. Although ACOG claims to represent 60,000 obstetrician and gynecologists in their vocal abortion advocacy, the leadership is disconnected from the concerns of providers in the trenches and have never surveyed their membership about our preferences since I have been an active fellow. Approximately 90% of obstetricians do not perform elective abortions.
Instead, ACOG loudly proclaims that “abortion is healthcare” despite the fact almost all abortions are performed on a healthy mother carrying a healthy child for social, financial or undefined reasons, and no high-quality study has demonstrated a health benefit from elective abortion.
This is why we must commend pro-life states like South Dakota, Florida, and Texas that are taking crucial steps to educate doctors on their laws. They correctly emphasize that these laws do not conflict with doctors’ ability to use their reasonable medical judgment to intervene in medical emergencies and that miscarriage care has nothing to do with abortion.
We must hold those with a platform and authority, like ACOG, accountable to present the facts rather than promoting false, confusing claims that put women at risk.
Ingrid Skop, M.D., a Board-certified obstetrician & gynecologist, is Vice President and Director of Medical Affairs for the Charlotte Lozier Institute