Over the last year or more, pro-life healthcare professionals have taken to various media platforms to speak truth and dismantle lies surrounding emergency medical care that will, in fact, be provided to women experiencing pregnancy complications. The dangerous and medically inaccurate lies being spread by pro-abortion groups in the media have deadly consequences. Lies that a woman experiencing complications from an induced abortion will be prosecuted (not true—no states are prosecuting women for having an elective/induced abortion), or lies that pro-life state laws prohibit a physician from performing medically-indicated procedures during a medical emergency (not true—no state laws prevent a doctor from performing life-saving care whether in a pro-life or pro-abortion state). The mischaracterizations result in patients being harmed. The lies cause deadly confusion among healthcare professionals and patients.

 

In full, 100 percent truth, women’s health matters. Period.

 

Taking a public collective stance for the truth and a desire to protect women’s health and lives, CMDA, along with the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM), the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) and other medical and health policy organizations signed on to the Women’s Healthcare Declaration. Launched on October 22, 2024, the Women’s Healthcare Declaration:

 

“…brings together a coalition of doctors, medical professionals, and healthcare policy leaders urging for a restoration of healthcare for women, especially surrounding pregnancy, pregnancy complications, and state laws. The Declaration calls for accurate information about abortion to be given to patients, and it urges state and federal policy makers and legislators, professional medical organizations, state health agencies, medical boards, hospitals and hospital systems, obstetricians, and the FDA to enact changes to restore the medical standard of care for pregnant women and women facing miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, an incomplete abortion, or any other life-threatening condition related to pregnancy. Women’s health matters.”

 

The Women’s Healthcare Declaration also explicitly affirms:

 

“Women deserve life-affirming healthcare during all phases of their lives. We are committed to providing life-affirming healthcare to all women and their babies, regardless of economic means, insured status, ethnicity, race, religion, health status, or any other demographic factor.”

 

The Declaration calls to account the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) relaxed protocols regarding chemical abortion pills. The relaxed safety protocols replaced the physician-patient relationship with do-it-yourself-at-home instructions, increasing the risks to women’s lives and health. (See this October 10, 2024 The Point blog post by CMDA member Dr. Steve A. Foley on the dangers of chemical abortion pills.) Because the FDA removed the required in-person physician visits, women face increased risk of complications due to undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy, lack of adequate screening for Rh status and intimate partner violence or coercion. They are also left without ongoing medical care if they experience severe bleeding, incomplete abortions or potentially life-threatening infections. We want the safety protocols reinstated.

 

Read the full declaration here. A press conference announcing the Women’s Healthcare Declaration was held on October 22, 2024 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

 

Dr. Christina Francis, a CMDA member, board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist and CEO of AAPLOG, said on behalf of her organization:

 

“The ultimate victims of the lies about abortion that are currently proliferating in the media are our patients. As physicians, we see a dire need to correct the record on induced abortion, abortion laws, and life-affirming care. This declaration offers the facts and clarity that the medical community and lawmakers need, and that our patients—pregnant and preborn—deserve.”

 

At CMDA, we believe life begins at fertilization and an unborn child deserves all the rights set forth in the Constitution, including the right to life. As healthcare professionals, it is our duty to protect the lives and health of our patients—in this case, both mother and child. Please read the CMDA Position Statement on Abortion. Please continue to pray for the lives of preborn babies and their mothers to be protected.