As a founding member of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM), we are excited to offer periodic updates on this important coalition’s initiatives and achievements.
AHM is the recipient of this year’s Evangelium Vitae award, announced by the Catholic Medical Association at their 93rd annual conference, which was held from September 5-7 in Orlando, Florida. The Evangelium Vitae award, which AAPLOG received last year, honors an organization that has accomplished exemplary work in defense of the sanctity of human life in the past year. Dr. Michael Parker accepted the award and AAPLOG’s Donna Harrison is the current president of AHM. AHM was the lead plaintiff on a federal lawsuit calling for accountability for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has in past years deregulated the abortion drug mifepristone to the point that women can order these drugs online and self-manage an induced abortion with little to no medical supervision. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on this case in June, and while the ruling was not favorable to the plaintiffs, the case made a major impact on the public discourse. Notably, the Court ruled on the plaintiffs’ standing and did not engage with the content of their arguments against the FDA’s reckless actions.
CMA also offered awards to AAPLOG members Marguerite Duane, MD and Richard Fehring, Ph.D. Dr. Duane and Dr. Fehring were offered the Distinguished Guardian of the Faith award, which “is presented to members whose vocation of healing others exemplifies their faith and love of God—both personally and professionally.” Both will be speaking at the 2025 Matthew Bulfin Educational Conference (MBEC), which will be held February 28-March 2 in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Duane is a board-certified family physician and fertility specialist, as well as the Executive Director of FACTS About Fertility, an Associate Professor at Duquesne University, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University. Her breakout lecture will be titled “Miscarriage: Identifying and Addressing Modifiable Risk Factors.”
Above: Dr. Marguerite Duane (second from left), with CMA’s Mario Dickerson (left), Dr. Michelle Stanford (CMA president) and Bishop James Conley. 2025 recipient of the Distinguished Guardian of the Faith Award, at the CMA conference
Above: Dr. Richard Fehring (second from right), recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Guardian of the Faith Award, with CMA’s Mario Dickerson (left), Dr. Michelle Stanford (CMA president) and Bishop James Conley, at the CMA conference
Dr. Fehring is a Professor Emeritus and founder of the Marquette University College of Nursing Institute for Natural Family Planning, and an internationally known Natural Family Planning (NFP) researcher. He is a board member of University Faculty for Life . His MBEC breakout session is titled “Fertility As a Vital Sign for Health.”
You can register for MBEC 2025 here to watch these two speakers in person.
We offer our congratulations to AHM and Dr.’s Duane and Fehring for this great honor!
