Above: Board member Michael Valley, MD and Cathy Deeds, Director of Member Engagement at the AAPLOG table at ACEP 2025.
Earlier this month, AAPLOG (and specifically our Emergency Medicine subsection) exhibited for the first time at the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Scientific Assembly in Salt Lake City, Utah. This was an excellent chance for more than 8,000 conference attendees to discover who AAPLOG is and that there is a voice for life-affirming medical professionals of all specialties.
The perspective and evidence-based guidelines that we brought were especially crucial in light of a push at this year’s conference to encourage EM physicians to dispense abortion drugs in the emergency department for the purpose of elective induced abortions. Pro-abortion groups represented in the exhibit hall included the National Abortion Federation (NAF) and a program called Access Bridge. Access Bridge claims on their website that “The emergency department is uniquely positioned to be a safety net for sexual and reproductive health services.” It is clear from their website that they consider induced abortion to be a crucial “reproductive health service” and further the tired and blatantly false claim that “legal ambiguities around abortion means that patients are not always receiving the necessary treatment for common pregnancy emergencies such as miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.” Additionally, Access Bridge distributes a protocol for EM physicians to provide mifepristone-induced abortion through 12 weeks of pregnancy (2 weeks beyond the FDA-approved period in pregnancy for chemical abortion).
AAPLOG Board member Dr. Michael Valley and Director of Member Engagement Cathy Deeds were able to talk with attendees about the dangers of mifepristone, along with the availability of a professional medical organization that provides an evidence-based approach to life-affirming healthcare – something none of them were aware of!
Dr. Valley related some encouraging interactions he had at the conference:
The most memorable conversation and good thing that I heard was from a practicing physician who was unaware of AAPLOG but was very interested in our organization. He had experience working with pro-abortion colleagues and related these uncomfortable situations that would come up in his work life. He did not think that the emergency room is a place for providing abortions and he is prolife. He was genuinely grateful and thankful that we were at the conference and giving an alternative voice to the EM community.
I was encouraged to see how many emergency physicians were willing to come out and say they were prolife and were interested in joining AAPLOG.
Cathy was also happy to have our two of our former Joe DeCook scholars stop by the booth and they expressed how happy they were to see AAPLOG there. We are currently raising funds to help reach our goal of bringing 100 medical students and residents to our 2026 conference through our scholarship program. You can help make this a reality and change the future of medicine by donating here for our scholarships.
Our presence at national medical conferences is crucial for two reasons: first, so other life-affirming medical professionals know they are not alone; and second, so that even those who do not agree with us about induced abortion can be exposed to the medical evidence on the harms of abortion and have the chance to engage in respectful dialogue and critical thinking about this issue.
