SGO Endorses the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Dobbs Anniversary Statement

On June 21, the SGO Executive Committee approved SGO’s endorsement of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Dobbs Anniversary Statement, alongside several other membership societies/associations and health organizations.

The full statement can be found here, and is provided below.

Obstetrics and Gynecology Organizations Unite on Joint Call to Action on the Dobbs Anniversary

Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, joined by the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, the Council of University Chairs of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, the Society for Academic Specialists in General Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Society of Family Planning, the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, and the Society of Maternal–Fetal Medicine:

“The overturning of Roe v. Wade last year was—and continues to be—a catastrophic event in the lives and health of our patients across the country. The stripping away of abortion rights has affected all corners of obstetric and gynecologic care, demonstrating once again that abortion is indeed essential health care. Our patients have been forced to continue pregnancies despite dangerous medical complications that place their health and lives at risk, or despite family and personal circumstances that make a pregnancy the wrong choice for their lives and values. They have had to take on personal burdens to access needed abortion care in other states. They have struggled as their physical and mental health worsened due to the chaos and confusion that has surrounded abortion bans and judicial and legislative interference into medicine. This impact on our patients’ health and lives is inexcusable.

“Our organizations represent the obstetrician–gynecologists whose expertise and training has been undermined by abortion bans and by the administrative burdens and barriers that have resulted. Our members have been unable to provide their patients with the care they need, have been restricted from counseling patients about the full range of evidence-based care, and have had to refer patients to peers in other states to receive care. They have even had to watch patients suffer as their conditions worsened because their patients were not sick enough for them to legally intervene. This ethical infringement is in clear conflict with the calling of obstetrician–gynecologists, and it forces members of our specialty to carry a burden of moral injury and distress.

“The year since the Dobbs decision has been one of great tragedy and suffering. As we look toward a future that protects our patients’ lives and autonomy, our organizations come together to call for…

• Strong and comprehensive legal protections for abortion—protections that exceed those afforded by Roe v. Wade. The gradual eroding of reproductive rights over the last decades—well before the Dobbs decision—demonstrated that the coverage provided by Roe was not enough. Legislative restrictions, unjustified requirements, and unnecessary burdens that are not founded in the science of good medicine have been commonplace, leaving some patients unable to access abortion care well before last year’s decision, and making access to health care profoundly burdensome for others.
• A rejection of so-called “commonsense” abortion bans. Recent legislative efforts to ban abortion at specific gestational ages have been wrongly promoted as “common sense.” We do not support legislation that would disregard the medical expertise of our members and the lived experience of patients to stipulate when a patient can or cannot access needed health care or to eliminate access to potentially lifesaving care.
• An end to judicial activism in health care. Decades of data clearly demonstrate the safety and efficacy of mifepristone for medication abortion and miscarriage management. Judicial overreach reversing the decades-old FDA approval of mifepristone reflects ideology, not science, and will impose additional harm on patients by making medication abortion less effective and harder to access.

“In the last year, our members’ ability to provide comprehensive health care has been compromised, and the patient–physician relationship, which is rooted in trust in one’s physician to provide counsel on the full range of health care—including prenatal care, contraception, and gynecologic oncology—has been damaged.

“June 24, we come together to demand a return to patient autonomy and an end to restrictions that prevent obstetrician–gynecologists from practicing medicine and caring for patients to the fullest extent of our abilities.”