This month in New York, AAPLOG CEO Dr. Christina Francis was honored by the Human Life Review and Human Life Foundation with the Defender of Life Award. For the last 11 years, Dr. Francis has been a staunch medical advocate for pro-life reasoning and human rights for all inside or outside of the womb. We’re so proud of our leader not only for her tireless work representing pro-life values in the medical field, but also for leading AAPLOG in its important vision for the past three years.
Below is an excerpt from Dr. Francis’ remarks after receiving the award:
We (pro-life medical professionals) play a critical role in ensuring that life is respected and protected. And this weighty responsibility is one, unfortunately, that has been abdicated by so many within my profession over the last nearly 60 years. However, the American Association of Prolife OB/GYNs, the largest professional medical organization of prolife physicians with approximately 8,000 members, is changing that.
And our aim is to do this through respectful, compassionate and informed conversation in the public, with our colleagues and with our patients. And we are providing clarity in the midst of the confusion by speaking the truth about what abortion is and why it is not healthcare. This is something we have in common with Human Life Review, which since 1975 has been dedicated to civilized discussion of the legal, philosophical, medical and scientific perspectives on life issues. AAPLOG was started in 1973 for a very similar reason.
On the day I took over as CEO of AAPLOG in 2023, we were kicked out of an ACOG conference we had exhibited at for years – one for those educating the next generation of medicine – simply because we are pro-life. When we arranged for an academic and scientific debate on the issue of abortion at Duke University, ACOG refused to participate, stating that the role of abortion in our patients’ lives is “settled science.”
The pro-life physicians I represent care deeply about our patients, and we understand that the true purpose of medicine is health, healing and wholeness. We understand that pregnancy is NOT a disease and death is NOT healthcare. And we understand that though the laws in many states have changed, hearts and minds need to change even more.
I know that seems like a daunting task, but I draw encouragement from the words of apologist Greg Koukl, who said that our job when we have hard conversations is not to change someone’s mind – that’s God’s job. Our job is to put a pebble in their shoes so that when they leave that conversation, they can’t stop thinking about it.
Though Dr. Francis was the one who accepted the award, she accepted it on behalf of all of you – our courageous members who each and every day, in their own way and with their patients, exemplify the beauty of life-affirming medical care, even in the face of opposition and attempts to silence us. AAPLOG is proud to represent you as we forge a new path forward in medicine towards a profession that once again respects the dignity and worth of every single patient.
