Doctors speak out... kind of

Salon: Doctors caught in the abortion wars

[Doctors] Angell and Greene also called for professional organizations like the American Medical Association and “particularly, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to take a public position on behalf of the patients they are pledged to serve, and to support their members in doing so.” But ACOG’s new president, James T. Breeden, did have a letter published in the New York Times this week, saying, “These laws are not grounded in science or evidence-based medicine,” and proclaiming, “Our message to politicians is unequivocal: Get out of our exam rooms.”

Jesus, it's about damned time. Where have the majority of doctors-- not just OB/GYNs, but all physicians who are concerned about proper patient care-- been in the abortion/'contraception debate? Abortion providers are targeted and labelled "baby killers" by our own representatives and, if the most extreme anti-abortion bills are passed, face fines, jail time, and the loss of their medical license for doing what is right and necessary.

Where are you AMA? Where is the support for your members and the patients that they treat? Why are you so silent on the issue of whether doctors are allowed to practice medicine?

Antiabortion doctors, some of whom used to be abortion providers and have the zeal of apostates, have been a visible part of the antiabortion movement from the start, their testimony essential even when it’s disputed by the majority of the medical establishment. In fact, all four OB-GYNs in the U.S. Congress are antiabortion, most visibly Rep. Ron Paul.

Well, of course. It's like that panel on contraception-- we can't allow really really real experts to testify, oh no! We can only hear the opinions of those who will not challenge our fucked up way of thinking.

Faced with being painted as anti-woman when one in three American women will choose to have an abortion by the age of 45, the antiabortion movement has sought to demonize providers, or as they prefer, “abortionists.” In the so far rhetorical argument of what punishment they’d propose for women who committed “murder” if abortion were illegal as such, “pro-lifers” prefer to levy penalties on doctors.

Really? 'Cos according to RH Reality Check:

The Liberty Counsel describes itself as an organization whose mission includes protecting “the inalienable right to life guaranteed to all, including unborn children.” While a number of “pro-life” leaders claim that recognizing the rights of the unborn and re-criminalizing abortion should not and will not lead to the arrest or punishment of women, the Liberty Counsel has clearly and unequivocally taken the position that “restoring the historic right to life accorded to unborn children” requires that women, including new mothers who have given birth, go to prison.

I'm not denying that there are plenty of anti-choice groups who do not want to treat women as criminals; they would rather threaten doctors. When you think about it, these groups don't have to ever challenge Roe v Wade if they can just make it impossible for doctors to practice.

HOWEVER, that hasn't stopped various states from arresting pregnant women for putting their pregnancies at risk or causing themselves to miscarry. Arizona's "chemical endangerment" law (which was supposed to protect children from meth labs) has been used to arrest 60 pregnant women. There are women who have been charged with having "illegal abortions", attempted "fetal homicide" and murder for miscarrying.

So, I ask again, AMA. Why aren't you making a big stink in the press every time The Liberty Council is files a friend of the court brief in cases like these? Drug addiction, suicide attempts, hell, even falling down the stairs are medical issues, not something that we should be prosecuting pregnant women for.