AAPLOG

We are asking for your help! The threats to the medical community have only heightened since the overturning of Roe, and medical students are particularly vulnerable. We do a lot at AAPLOG to encourage and defend them, including offering scholarships every year to our Matthew Bulfin Educational Conference (MBEC). Help us reach our goal of sending 100 medical students and residents to MBEC 2025 by giving today at buff.ly/45LAghe. Thank You!

The same outdated hypothesis that was used decades ago to deny infants' ability to feel pain is now being used by abortion advocates to deny preborn children's capacity for pain. Science has demonstrated that the brain does not need to be fully developed for an individual to experience pain. Many of the areas of the brain involved in the perception of pain are developed by 12 weeks' gestation. As early as 14-15 weeks' gestation, it is now standard practice to treat fetuses for pain during fetal surgery because they respond to skin-breaking procedures with the same changes in behavior, stress hormones, and metabolism as adults. Learn more here: https://buff.ly/32LtDMG

Attention AAPLOG members! We need your help to grow. Will you refer a friend, colleague, or a medical resident or student who desires to practice life-affirming medicine and be part of an organization that protects and equips their right to practice? We know that so many feel alone in their practice environment and just as you have become a part of our network and family, we want them to be a part as well! Here's what one member wrote on our recent member survey: "I appreciate being a part of an organization that unapologetically supports life issues and stays on the forefront of those issues affecting medical practice." Use this link to learn more and to send us referrals: https://buff.ly/3ziCAQH

Did you know? The Joe DeCook scholarship program fully covers medical students' and residents' attendance of the Matthew Bulfin Educational Conference (MBEC). With MBEC 2025 coming up in February, we need your help to support the next generation of pro-life medical professionals. Attending MBEC for free allows students & residents to learn the latest research from pro-life medical professionals and researchers, meet fellow students who share their values, and network with potential mentors who can support them in their life-affirming career. Would you like to be a part of building the next generation of life-affirming medical professionals? Go to buff.ly/45LAghe and select the checkbox stating that you want your funds to go towards the DeCook program.

Physicians in pro-life states may feel some uncertainty about what their state abortion law says exactly. They're not legal experts, after all. But the fact is, not a single state law in the country prevents them from offering excellent reproductive healthcare to pregnant women. Medical professionals deserve to have the right guidance from their medical professional organizations, hospital administration, and others to confidently provide the care that their patients need. "Unfortunately, organizations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have done little to help doctors understand how they should be caring for patients under new life-affirming laws, despite the fact that ACOG’s very mission is to produce “practice guidelines for health care professionals and educational materials for patients.” The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), a group of doctors specializing in high-risk care, has likewise held back from offering any clarification or guidance to its members. In fact, SMFM members have contributed to the rampant misinformation asserting that OBGYNs can no longer treat pregnant women whose lives are at risk." - AAPLOG Board Member and Board-Certified OB-GYN Dr. Susan Bane, MD, PhD Read the full op-ed: https://buff.ly/3zrGkj5

Life-affirming physicians are committed to offering excellent healthcare equally to both pregnant women and their preborn children. Tragically, when treating life-threatening pregnancy complications, it will sometimes be necessary for the physician to separate mom from baby, even if the child is too young to survive outside the womb. However, the physician will never waver in his or her commitment to respecting the dignity of both patients. Our practice guidelines on concluding pregnancy state that, for a life-affirming physician, "It is acceptable to deliver a patient before the gestational age at which the fetus could survive outside the womb only if the mother’s life or health is in danger, which is proportional to the danger the fetus/neonate will face at birth. To be clear, this means the mother is facing death or immediate irreversible bodily harm which cannot be mitigated in any other way, including ectopic pregnancy and critical maternal illness." Read the full document: https://buff.ly/42chWeM

This month, let's take a minute to raise awareness and improve our understanding of orofacial clefts -- cleft lip and cleft palate. Each year, about 2,600 babies in the U.S. are born with a cleft palate and 4,400 with cleft lip. These conditions can cause impairment in these babies' ability to feed, language development, and hearing, as well as ear infections and problems with their teeth. While there is no surefire way for pregnant women to prevent cleft lip or palate in their preborn child, they can reduce risk by making healthy lifestyle choices, taking folic acid, and being aware of side effects of medication before & during pregnancy. Learn more here: https://buff.ly/3W1qQLn #NCCAPM

ATTENTION AAPLOG MEMBERS! Want to build a team of life-affirming medical professionals in your state to address the unique needs of your community? Let us support you! Email info@aaplog.org to express your interest in helping to start a chapter in your state.

Stay tuned! Registration info for the 2025 Matthew Bulfin Educational Conference is coming soon in the next couple of weeks. This year's conference will offer a variety of talks from experts in the field of medicine, mental health, law, & more, surrounding the theme "the meaning in medicine". Enjoy three days in the heart of Orlando, Florida. Save the date for February 28-March 2, 2025!

July is Cord Blood Awareness Month! Did you know? By donating your baby's umbilical cord blood to a public cord blood bank, you can offer the medical community a life-affirming source of stem cells for use in research, clinical trials, and treatments. Learn more about cord blood banking here: https://buff.ly/2Nqse9c Learn more about the various groundbreaking treatments developed through stem cell research on Episode 16 of our podcast with Dr. David Prentice: https://buff.ly/41odl8y