Make your voice heard!

Two critical life-related matters are open for public comment. The first is a proposed federal regulation that would protect Title X funds from Planned Parenthood. The second is a proposal before the American Board of Medical Specialities (AMBS) to create a new board specialty in “Complex Family Planning”—code for late-term abortion.

Title X Regulation
As we previously reported, pro-life organizations are urging the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to restore Reagan-era regulations that disentangle Title X family planning funds from abortion vendors. HHS has responded with a proposed rule, which must go through a public comment period before it can be fully implemented. Planned Parenthood is rallying its troops to keep its taxpayer funds flowing, so it’s crucial for HHS to hear from us!

You can read the proposed rule here and submit your supportive comment here. I wrote:

I strongly support the proposed rule. For too long, Title X funds have subsidized abortion vendors. The provision of taxpayer money to Planned Parenthood—which has repeatedly defrauded Medicaid and failed to report the sexual abuse of children, among other scandals—is especially troubling. Federally qualified health centers and other community clinics are far more deserving recipients of Title X funds, and are fully capable of meeting women’s nonviolent family planning needs.

HHS is accepting comments through July 31.

Board Certification in Late-Term Abortion
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) has sounded the alarm about a proposed board certification program for “Complex Family Planning.” AAPLOG warns:

The application includes things which all ob/gyns are already trained in:  contraception, miscarriage management, management of complicated pregnancies. This part of the application is a smokescreen.

What is unique to this board certification, and is the focus of the fellowship is SECOND and THIRD TRIMESTER ABORTION TRAINING. 

Training in contraception, and miscarriage management and complicated pregnancy management is already done in an ob/gyn residency. There is no need for an additional board certification.

Training in management of high risk pregnancies is already accomplished through a maternal fetal medicine subspecialty board certification. There is no need for an additional board certification.

The uniqueness of the proposed board certification is in training physicians to kill fetuses in utero. This practice should have no place in the field of medicine, much less have the imprimatur of the ABMS.

You can read the application for the proposed specialty here and submit your comment in opposition here. Comments from medical professionals will naturally carry more weight, so we particularly encourage you to participate if you work in the medical field; however, the comment form allows “private individuals” to comment as well. I wrote:

I urge AMBS to reject the proposed certification in complex family planning. The vast majority of items included in this proposed certification, such as the provision of contraception and management of miscarriage, are matters that all ob/gyns should master and are already adequately addressed by other certification programs. What sets this proposed subspecialty certification apart is its training in late-term abortion methods. Late-term abortion is a gross violation of a physician’s oath to do no harm. Accordingly, abortions in the second and third trimester are opposed by the vast majority of Americans, including those who identify themselves as pro-choice. If AMBS approves this subspecialty certification, it will introduce a source of distrust into the already strained relationship between medical professionals and the general public. 

This comment period is open through July 6.