These numbers flipped when respondents were asked if they would refer their patients for abortion: 40% said they would not refer their patients for abortions, while 60% said they would refer patients for abortion or were unsure if they would refer for abortion.

The MedSFLA survey mirrors national trends where a majority of young people say they are personally pro-life but their position does not translate into action to avoid being perceived as judgmental.

This moral relativism has crept into our medical schools, where students are being taught that physicians should act as vending machines and dispense whatever the patient wants to avoid perceived moral judgments. The students are encouraged to counsel their patients on the dangers of smoking and a poor diet but when it comes to an elective procedure that will end the life of a human being, students are told to not counsel their patient in a way that will lead the patient towards choosing life.

The Med Survey underscores the need to educate students on the right of conscience and to teach medical students that referring for abortion is the same as conducting the abortion yourself. This fall, we will be traveling the country on our Medical Students for Life Fall tour with pro-life physicians to drive home these important issues. Minds will be changed and lives will be saved because of our efforts.

Catholic hospitals, which operate under the direction of their local bishops and serve one out of every six patients in America, must adhere to Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Healthcare Services put forth by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This prohibits any practice that violates Catholic teaching, including abortion, sterilization, contraceptives, and assisted suicide.

In today’s healthcare industry, most hospitals are faced with utilitarian decisions about whose life is more valuable, a development accelerated due to the impending implementation of Obamacare. We’re moving into a culture of death where healthcare for the elderly will be rationed to save costs and the abortion and infanticide of disabled babies will be promoted as the humane way to reduce healthcare costs. The quality of life ethic is being pushed by the medical community wherein the value of human life lies in its functionality. But in a Catholic hospital, all life is valuable.

Catholic hospitals are unique because they unite traditional healthcare services with the church’s mission to serve the poor and promote the sanctity of all human life. Because of their commitment to serving every human being, they are able to go into poor and rural areas where secular and public hospitals do not operate. This is evident from the very fact that such hospitals are merging with their Catholic partners in these regions.

But for Catholic hospitals to continue to operate in such a way, they must be allowed to freely practice their faith. To force Catholic hospitals to provide abortions would be like forcing mosques to serve pork, or Quakers to enlist in the military.

The first amendment guarantees the right of every American to the “free exercise” of his or her religion, but we have seen that ignored before by the Obama administration. And Congress has upheld that right in the Hyde–Weldon Conscience Protection Amendment, which protects physicians, nurses, hospitals and health insurance companies from being forced to commit, fund, cover or refer for abortions by the federal or any state government.

However, that amendment has to be approved every year and it will only take one pro-abortion Congressional majority to end it. We must be proactive in educating our friends, our neighbors and our fellow parishioners on the basic fact that abortion and assisted suicide are not healthcare. In fact, they are the antithesis of healthcare.

The Catholic Church is not going to back down on its commitment to the dignity and sanctity of all human life. The hospitals will be shut down, or risk losing the financial benefit of affiliation with the Church, before that happens. Then, in those rural areas that are served exclusively by Catholic hospitals, there will be no healthcare at all. There will be nothing for those patients who need immediate, true emergency care. All because of the obstinacy of abortion advocates who value the destruction of life over the saving of it.

Medical Students for Life will hold our National Meeting at the Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity’s (CBHD) “Health & Human Flourishing Conference” at Trinity International University on July 18-20th.

On Thursday July 18th, a free pre-conference on prenatal diagnosis will be available for conference attendees. (Free registration here)

The CBHD conference begins that Thursday evening and runs through Saturday July 20th. (Registration here)

Once you have registered, please contact Med Students for Life so we can send you a special invitation to our National Meeting debrief sessions and special events during the conference.

Plan to attend all three days to hear presentations by experts on issues such as prenatal diagnosis and termination rates, ethical issues in emergency humanitarian aid, regulating RU-486: putting patient health above financial gain, and more.

Discounted lodging will be available at the nearby La Quinta Inn & Suites, Embassy Suites North, or Homewood Suites. More information here.

If you have any questions about our national meeting, please contact Medical Students for Life of America and we will be happy to help.

See you in July!

This statement brings to light the duplicity that exists in the minds of many physicians. Some physicians, who consider themselves pro-life, make abortion referrals because they feel they do not have a choice due to their employer, they feel they are doing the compassionate thing, or they have made a series of compromises to avoid the hard discussions with their patients.

If you’re a physician finding yourself in this situation, here are some thoughts from your pro-life colleagues on how to explain why you won’t refer for abortion.

“I tell my patient I cannot refer her for an abortion because I am the doctor of two patients, the mother and fetus. If I refer for an abortion, one or both of them will not come back alive and that is not good medicine. “ – Dr. Anita Showalter, OB-GYN

“I do not believe abortion is good medicine and I cannot refer my patients to a good abortion provider because I do not know one.” – Dr. Byron Calhoun, OB-GYN

“In a digital age, women can easily find an abortion clinic online; they do not need me to refer them. My referral would only serve as a stamp of approval for an unnecessary elective procedure.” – Dr. William Toffler, Family Medicine

“We counsel our patients to abstain from smoking and unhealthy foods, yet we shy away from counseling them when it’s about an elective procedure that will end a life. This does not make sense.” – Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, OB-GYN

What is known to be right and healthy cannot be sacrificed on the altar of patient autonomy or what is politically correct. When it’s boiled down to its simplest form, there is no difference between the abortionist and the doctor who refers his or her patient for an abortion; both actions will end a life and damage the doctor-patient relationship.

Medical students and residents need to know about their right of conscience and how to communicate those values to their patients, colleagues, and students. This fall, Medical Students for Life will be focusing much of our effort on educating medical students about abortion referrals and the right of conscience. Pro-life physicians must be pro-life in word and deed.

“There are no victories here and this is far from over. The women and children Kermit Gosnell killed are still dead. The families he destroyed with his lies are still suffering. Abortion is still legal in America and is being perpetrated in the same corrupt and dirty ways Gosnell did it for 40 years. Our generation has only just begun our quest to obtain justice for the 55+ million baby girls and baby boys who have killed by legal abortion and to save untold millions more from the same fate.

“Gosnell’s filthy practices are simply business as usual for the abortion industry and its Goliath, Planned Parenthood. We know there are other Gosnells out there. It’s time to expose these front alley butchers.”

Previous posts on Gosnell:

 What I Saw at the Gosnell Trial

Gosnell’s ‘House of Horrors’ is Business as Usual for Planned Parenthood

All American Horror Story: Top 10 Gosnell Trial Revelations

The Planned Parenthood Project

Dr. John Bruchalski is the founder of the Tepeyac Family Center in Fairfax, Virginia which is one of the only all pro-life OB/GYN health care practices in the nation. He is a dynamic and engaging speaker whose story and style reaches people on all sides of the culture battle and shows them the value of an evidence-based approach to medicine and the value of treating the whole person.

His past presentations have included, “The Struggle Making Abortion Safe, Legal, and Rare: A bioethics & clinical discussion on barriers to access, health care reform, and evidence-based medicine,” was a huge success in bringing students out from all sides of the abortion debate.

You can watch Dr. Bruchalski’s past lectures here. 

Dr. Showalter is the Assistant Dean of Clinical Sciences and Chair of Women’s Health at Pacific Northwest University of Medical Science in Yakima, Washington.  She is a graduate of Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, has board certification in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and has been inducted into the Osteopathic Mentor Hall of Fame.  She promotes the intelligent, sensitive care of women understanding the connection of body, mind and spirit.  She also promotes a deep respect for life and life processes that reflect intelligent design.

Here is a run down of speakers and topics covered at the conference.

Byron C. Calhoun, MD, FACOG, FACS, MBA
Topic: Lethal Prenatal Diagnosis & Perinatal Hospice
Dr. Calhoun is a diplomat of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is board certified in general Obstetrics/Gynecology and the sub-specialty of Maternal-Fetal Medicine. He is an original author of the perinatal hospice concept, which provides a multidisciplinary care to families with a lethal prenatal diagnosis. Dr. Calhoun serves as Professor and Vice-Chair in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at West Virginia University-Charleston. He is also the National Medical Advisor for NIFLA, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates.
Video of Dr. Calhoun’s lecture available here: Part 1, Part 2

Paul Sansone, MD
Topic: A physician’s right of conscience on the front lines of medical care
Dr. Sansone is a diplomat of the American Board of Anesthesiology and is board certified in Anesthesiology and the subspecialty of Pain Medicine. He serves as an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH.
Video of Dr. Sansone’s lecture available here

Nicole Varasteh, MD, FACOG, NaProtechnology medical consultant
Topic: Counseling patients with pregnancy options Dr. Varasteh is a diplomat of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is board certified in general Obstetrics/Gynecology and trained in Natural Procreative Technology (NaProTechnology) as a medical consultant using the CREIGHTON MODEL FERTILITY CARE SYSTEM (CRMS). She received her Doctor of Medicine from New York Medical College and completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at St. Luke’s – Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City. She is an attending Obstetrician Gynecologist at Dartmouth Hitchcock in Concord, NH. She has 5 children and is the medical director of several Care Net crisis pregnancy centers in New Hampshire.
Video of Dr. Varasteh’s lecture available here

Anne Burge, Executive Director, Pregnancy Center of the Upper Valley
Topic: Medical Connections with Pregnancy Resource Centers
PCUV serves 500 new clients each year who are facing consequences of premature sexual activity. Unexpected pregnancy is the primary point of entry; however, the center’s services encompass a three-tiered focus of prevention, intervention and recovery. As Executive Director, the center began offering limited obstetrical ultrasound services, and are now in the process of opening a residential facility for parenting and/or pregnant women.

Video of Anne Burge’s lecture available here

Dr. Byron C. Calhoun, MD, FACOG, FACS, MBA is a diplomat of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is board certified in general Obstetrics/Gynecology and the sub-specialty of Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

He has authored 60+ peer review articles in the obstetric and gynecologic literature, presented 100+ scientific papers, participated in 40+ research projects, and published several articles on perinatal hospice. He is an original author of the perinatal hospice concept, which provides a multidisciplinary care to families with a lethal prenatal diagnosis.

Dr. Calhoun serves as Professor and Vice-Chair in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at West Virginia University-Charleston. He is also the National Medical Advisor for NIFLA, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates.

Last week we traveled with Dr. Lanfranchi on our Spring Tour to present the abortion breast cancer link at Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University. A large number of pro-abortion medical students arrived to hear the presentation. After Dr. Lanfranchi gave her presentation, she opened the floor for discussion. The pro-abortion students started the process of poking holes in her presentation; they had reviewed her video lectures and examined her website in an effort to discredit her. All of their efforts were refuted by an overwhelming body of published work that shows the association between abortion and breast cancer. Many of them left the Q&A in frustration. Dr. Lanfranchi is a well-respected breast surgeon and published clinician. Our guest lecturers have impeccable credentials and as much as the other side tries to silence the truth, it’s hard to argue with an expert. To view her lecture click here.