The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), founded in 1973, claims to be the largest organization of pro-life obstetrics and gynecology doctors in the world with more than 7,000 members. 1 2 The organization was a “special interest group” within the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) from 1973 to 2013 before spinning off into its own organization. 3 The organization still participated ACOG annual conferences until 2024, when ACOG barred the group. 4
Christina Francis is the CEO of the organization. 5
In May 2024, the Heritage Foundation announced it was awarding AAPLOG a $100,000 as part of its Innovation Prize project, primarily to support AAPLOG’s Abortion Pill Reversal Education Recruitment Project. 6
Background
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists claims to be the largest organization of pro-life obstetrics and gynecology doctors in the world. 1 The organization claims more than 7,000 members and equips members to provide evidence-based information for both pregnant mothers and their pre-born children. 2 Founded in 1973, the group obtained its tax-exempt status in 1981. 7
The group is an organization of pro-life doctors, nurses, and reproductive health care professionals who oppose abortion. 3 8
Christina Francis is the CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Francis is a board-certified and practicing OB/GYN hospitalist based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She became CEO in March 2023, succeeding Donna Harrison, who had led the organization for a decade. Francis has been involved in AAPLOG since 2014. She was previously the organization’s chair of the board of directors and was the head of the board’s Education and Advocacy Committee. 5
The association’s annual Matthew Bulfin Educational Meeting is a forum for pro-life medical experts to discuss the latest information on pro-life topics. 1
AAPLOG has a mentorship program connecting member doctors to pre-med students and residents to provide a “critical opportunity for students to hear a medical professional pro-life perspective, reinforcing and informing their personal beliefs and perspectives.” 3
Public Policy
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists works with local, state, and federal lawmakers, as well as legal organizations across the United States for pro-life causes. 1 AAPLOG doctors have been expert witnesses in state and federal legislative hearings. 3
In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against placing more restrictions on abortion drugs in a case brought by doctors including AAPLOG CEO Christina Francis. The case was primarily about access to the abortifacient drug mifepristone. 9
In May 2024, the Heritage Foundation announced it was awarding $100,000 to AAPLOG as part of its Innovation Prize to the organization. The prize money was for the AAPLOG’s Abortion Pill Reversal Education Recruitment Project, in which the group used continuing medical education and a media campaign to reach doctors, patients, insurance providers, and the public with information about abortion pill reversals that have saved 4,500 lives. 6
The association says it is a strong advocate for a physician’s right of conscience 10 and opposes a push by the United Nations to recognize “abortion as a fundamental human right.” 10
AAPLOG supported the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson that overturned the purported federal constitutional right to abortion under Roe v. Wade. Then-AAPLOG CEO Donna Harrison, an OBGYN and adjunct professor of bioethics at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois, said, “It actually doesn’t change anything except to turn the whole discussion on abortion back to the states, which in our opinion is where it should have been 50 years ago.” 11
In August 2019, a Florida appeals court cited an AAPLOG brief when overturning a lower court’s decision to block the state’s 24-hour waiting period for abortion. 3
Relationship with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the principal representative body of women’s reproductive health physicians, was founded in 1951. After the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, it changed its policy to support abortion. In protest of the policy change, a group of doctors formed the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists as a “special interest group” within ACOG. 3
AAPLOG met annually at the larger ACOG conferences and advocated for pro-life laws in state legislatures. In 2013, ACOG ended all internal special interest groups in the organization, so AAPLOG spun off as an independent organization with 5,700 health care professionals as members. 3
The feminist, pro-abortion publication Ms. Magazine highlighted where the AAPLOG’s positions oppose those of ACOG. These points of dispute include claims that abortion is safer than childbirth, that ultrasound requirements should be in place before an abortion, opposition to emergency contraception over the counter; and that abortion can increase chances of breast cancer. 8
AAPLOG hosted a booth at the ACOG annual conference for 15 years. However, ACOG barred AAPLOG from setting up a booth at its 2024 annual conference. AAPLOG said it was not informed of the change until it arrived at the conference in Maryland. ACOG said the AAPLOG’s pro-life views are inconsistent with the ACOG mission of “the advancement of evidence-based, scientific information.” 4
After the Dobbs decision, ACOG’s website increased its abortion support, saying ACOG “supports the availability of high-quality reproductive health services for all people and is committed to protecting and increasing access to abortion.” It also called abortion “an essential component of comprehensive, evidence-based health care.” AAPLOG CEO Christina Francis said, “this is perhaps the clearest that ACOG has ever been publicly on their position on this issue,” and she claimed that it puts the group “woefully out-of-step” with most U.S. OB/GYNs. 12
Positions
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists contends that as physicians, they have a professional responsibility to defend the lives of both the mother and preborn child and to speak for the weakest. 1
Differing in focus from many pro-life groups that focus primarily on arguments of the sanctity of life, AAPLOG focuses primarily on scientific and medical arguments. 3 AAPLOG says it exists to encourage and equip medical practitioners to provide an evidence-based rationale for defending the lives of both the pregnant mother and her pre-born child. 7
The association says, “We know what it is like to practice good medicine in a hostile academic environment,” and understands the need for “absolutely accurate and scientifically irrefutable information.” 1 AAPLOG says it wants all women–regardless of race, creed, or national origin—to be informed to “make healthy and life-affirming choices.” 13
AAPLOG has published in peer-reviewed medical journals such as Issues in Law & Medicine and the Watson Bowes Research Institute. 3 The organization says that is “scientific fact that human life begins at the moment of fertilization.” 13
The group also says that abortion increases preterm birth in subsequent pregnancies for women. They say it also increases a woman’s risk of suicide, substance abuse and depression, and a woman’s risk of breast cancer. 1
The association further has argued there is a “symbiotic relationship among pornography, sex-trafficking and abortion.” 3
References
- American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://aaplog.org/
- “American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.” Cause IQ. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/association-of-pro-life,237347367/
- Endicott, Marisa. “They’re Doctors. They’re Also Incredibly Effective—and Dangerous—Anti-Abortion Activists.” Mother Jones. June 4, 2020. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/06/american-association-pro-life-obstetricians-gynecologists-aaplog-anti-abortion-doctors-june-medical-supreme-court-decision/
- Silverstein, Joe. “American College of OB-GYNs bans pro-life doctors from conference: ‘Vague explanation.’” Fox News. March 1, 2023. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://www.foxnews.com/media/american-college-ob-gyns-bans-pro-life-doctors-conference-vague-explanation
- Press Release. “Dr. Christina Francis Steps in as CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.” American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. March 1, 2023. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://aaplog.org/dr-christina-francis-steps-in-as-ceo-of-the-american-association-of-pro-life-obstetricians-and-gynecologists/
- Press Release. “Heritage Foundation Announces New Innovation Prize for the Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.” Heritage Foundation. May 20, 2024. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://www.heritage.org/press/heritage-foundation-announces-new-innovation-prize-the-association-pro-life-obstetricians-and
- “American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.” Charity Navigator. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/237347367
- Little, Anita. “Is Your OB-GYN a Member of this Anti-Choice Group?” Ms. Magazine. May 11, 2015. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://msmagazine.com/2015/05/11/is-your-obgyn-a-member-of-this-anti-choice-group/
- Prude, Harvest. “Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Abortion Pill Challenge.” Christianity Today. June 13, 2024. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://christianitytoday.com/news/2024/june/supreme-court-unanimously-rejects-abortion-pill-challenge.html
- “About Us.” American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://aaplog.org/about-us/
- Dillon, John. “Pro-Life Ob/Gyns Say Dobbs Not End of Abortion Struggle.” Medscape. August 9, 2022. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/978943?form=fpf
- Scanlon, Kate. “OB-GYN group backs abortion ‘without limitations’ or ‘barriers,’ trades barbs with pro-life group.” Detroit Catholic. September 1, 2023. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://www.detroitcatholic.com/news/ob-gyn-group-backs-abortion-without-limitations-or-barriers-trades-barbs-with-pro-life-group
- “Our Mission Statement.” American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Accessed June 15, 2024. https://aaplog.org/our-mission-statement/