ACOG President Condemns the Passage of ‘Born-Alive’ Legislation

Washington, D.C.—The following is a statement from Iffath Abbasi Hoskins, MD, FACOG, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, about the House of Representatives passing the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act on January 11:

“The offensively named ‘born-alive’ legislation is another cruel and misguided attempt to interfere with evidence-based medical decision making between patients and their physicians. This bill is not based in science or medicine. It is meant to incite emotions, rather than reflect the reality of evidence-based clinical care. This legislative interference will harm families and hinder the ability of physicians to practice such evidence-based medicine.

“This reckless bill would impede families from making significant quality-of-life decisions, such as being able to provide comfort or spiritual care in tragic and painful situations. Abortions later in pregnancy are the result of complex decisions, and patients make these health care decisions thoughtfully, carefully, and painstakingly. These incredibly difficult medical decisions should be made by patients in consultation with their physicians and without any external interferences. Instead, this bill takes decision making out of the hands of families in crisis and limits the freedom of our patients to make the decisions that are right for them.

“Laws that ban or criminalize evidence-based care and rely on medically unsupported theories and misinformation are dangerous to families and their clinicians. This bill negatively affects all obstetric and gynecologic care.

“We are disappointed by the passage of this misguided bill, which would limit the ability of our expert members to do their jobs and provide compassionate, evidence-based care to their patients.”