AAPLOG is proud to have members who boldly advocate for their patients, both born and preborn, while championing life-affirming medicine, accurate medical terminology, and policies that protect the conscience rights of healthcare professionals.
One example is from a new AAPLOG member, Dr. John A. Schmidt, who recently wrote to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, ahead of his 50th reunion. In his letter, he urged the institution to return to the foundations of life-affirming medicine that shaped his own training in the 1970s.
He wrote, in part:
“Obfuscated by sanitized labels like ‘abortion care,’ ‘complex family planning,’ and ‘pregnancy management,’ HUP OBGYN trainees are forced to opt out of a training program that teaches them to kill innocent and vulnerable human beings.
While most of the university’s esteemed faculty strive to save and improve the quality of life of countless thousands, the Dept. of OBGYN directly or indirectly kills thousands of innocents. My OBGYN professors taught me to take care of two patients and that the killing of one of them is not healthcare but infanticide.
In your role as visionaries charged with the direction of our beloved Institution, I urge you to take decisive action to restore ‘opt-in’ to the OB-GYN training program over the objection of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and honor “Leges sine moribus vanae,” as professed by our esteemed founder.”
In this special Q&A, we asked Dr. Schmidt why he chose to write this letter and why he encourages his fellow physicians to speak out on behalf of their patients. Read below!
What prompted you to write this letter now, especially as you approach your 50th reunion at Penn Med?
I love Penn Med! It nurtured me into medicine. I met my wonderful wife, Rita Watson, MD, as an intern at HUP. Our dear oldest daughter, Kathryn, now an oncologist in Austin, TX, and her wonderful husband, head of the training program in IM at the University of Texas, Austin, met as med students at Penn Med. They now have three wonderful children, the oldest having graduated from 8th grade today! So, imagine my disappointment that the Penn who gave us life now engages in induced abortion, so contrary to the spirit that gave us life as a family!
You describe the OB/GYN training model as “opt-out” and coercive. Can you explain what you believe residents are experiencing in that system?
Opt-in (to abortion training) is voluntary. Opt-out requires a trainee to take a stand and endure the condemnation of the prevailing pro-choice culture. An enlightened view would be to give every trainee the opportunity to visit the new museum at Pennsylvania Hospital before making a choice. The founders of American medicine and the Pennsylvania Hospital understood that the protection of nascent and vulnerable life is at the heart of the physician’s covenant with society. A visit to see this history and how preborn life is honored would allow trainees to connect with this enlightened tradition.
How has the principle of caring for two patients, mother and preborn child, shaped your view of abortion within medical practice?
As the father of four, oldest of six, and the grandparent of 12, and having lived through every one of those high-risk pregnancies, and seeing every one by high-definition ultrasound, my dear wife, second oldest of ten, and I tracked the development of each and every one with trust that each one would be given their first breath by the Almighty who created them in His image. As mothers, our three physician daughters and their devoted husbands never considered aborting our grandchildren, realizing that their baby came from their intimate love for each other.
Why do you believe that language matters when it comes to terms like “abortion care” or “complex family planning”?
Language is so important! The adversaries of life have been guilty of manipulating language to their advantage. We need to do better. They have no chance against us with our superior God-given skills. Here you go: “Life begins with you!” “Your child can’t wait to see you!”
How would you encourage fellow AAPLOG members to speak out in their day-to-day conversation?
AAPLOG members, myself included, should speak out against the sordid history of ACOG and how it evolved, to its detriment, after Roe. They should study the history of ACOG and how they, like the champions of Dred Scott, led our nation down the tragic course that has resulted in the death of millions of Holy Innocents.
