ACOG to Legislators – Get Out of Our Exam Rooms

In a strongly worded editorial in the NY Times, James T Breeden, MD, President of the American Congress of Obstetricans & Gynecologists (ACOG) has spoken out in support of Planned Parenthood and against recent legislative attempts to limit access to reproductive health care. After boldly pointing out the much-denied obvious – “The onslaught of laws focusing on denying reproductive health care rights is a concerted campaign against women,” Breeden then proceeds to succinctly and unequivocally address the four major fronts in that campaign –

Evidence-based medicine -“These laws are not grounded in science or evidence-based medicine.”

Planned Parenthood -“Efforts to de-fund Planned Parenthood, which provides cervical cancer and mammography screening, contraception and other preventive care to millions of women, are egregious and disproportionately hurt poor women.”

The Legal Practice of Abortion -“Mandating that women be legally forced to undergo transvaginal ultrasound or any other medical procedure against their will and against their physician’s judgment is an outrageous violation of patient autonomy and the confidential doctor-patient relationship.”

The physician-patient relationship and the legal practice of medicine -“Politicians were not elected to, nor should they, legislate the practice of medicine or dictate the parameters of the doctor-patient relationship. Our message to politicians is unequivocal: Get out of our exam rooms.”

Thank you, thank you Dr Breeden and ACOG, for speaking out on behalf of the obstetrician gynecologists who have dedicated their lives to the reproductive health care of women, and who are outraged on this attack on both our patient’s right to reproductive health care and on our right to legally practice medicine.