On July 7th, the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG), the nonprofit organization that provides board certification for obstetricians and gynecologists, released their “Statement Regarding Misinformation and Disinformation and Medical Professionalism”, in which it warns that “intentionally providing misinformation and disinformation that may harm patients or public health does not meet these agreed-upon standards and may be grounds for adverse action on an OB-GYN’s certification status”.
Given ABOG’s stance that abortion is essential to reproductive health, AAPLOG is concerned that ABOG provides no definition in this threatening letter of the criteria that will be used to determine what is “misinformation and disinformation”. It is clear that this threat comes in order to discourage OB-GYNs from taking part in urgently needed testimony at the local, state and federal level.
AAPLOG has taken action to combat what appears to be a threat targeted specifically at pro-life board-certified OB-GYNs. AAPLOG, along with the Catholic Medical Association and the Christian Medical and Dental Association has retained legal counsel to ensure that we protect you in this issue. AAPLOG sent this letter to ABOG’s president on July 16th.
In addition to AAPLOG’s action above, AAPS has also filed a lawsuit:
Plaintiff Association of American Physicians and Surgeons Educational Foundation (“AAPS” or “AAPS Educational Foundation”) seeks declaratory and injunctive relief against Defendants American Board of Internal Medicine (“ABIM”), American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology (“ABOG”), American Board of Family Medicine (“ABFM”), and Alejandro Mayorkas (“Mayorkas”), in his official capacity as the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), based on the following allegations….This action is brought by a co-sponsor of medical conferences and publisher of educational materials on the internet, Plaintiff AAPS, against Defendants concerning their unprecedented campaigns to censor speech that they falsely disparage as “misinformation” or “disinformation”.
It is questionable whether or not ABOG has any legal right to rescind the board certification of its membership over ideological disagreements about abortion, much less to forbid membership from discussing the research-backed effects of abortion on women. We think it is despicable that ABOG would threaten our livelihood in order to silence us from giving the evidence-based facts about what abortion does to women. We can and will do everything in our power to protect our membership.