American Medical Association refuses to help babies who survive abortions

The largest medical association in the United States has shut down a proposal to protect babies who survive abortions.

During the American Medical Association’s (AMA) 2023 Annual Meeting, delegate Dr Thomas Eppes Jr urged the association to “advocate for availability of the highest standard of neonatal care to [an] aborted fetus born alive at a gestational age of viability”.

But the motion was defeated by 476 to 106 votes.

‘Disinformation’

Dr Eppes, who describes himself as pro-abortion, said his proposal was designed to ensure medics are responsible for caring for “two patients once the fetus is viable”.

In a separate motion which was also voted down, he called for the AMA’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs to address the “complicated issue” of the “rights of the viable fetus” before the 2024 annual meeting.

Dr Eppes asked: “Do you believe the fetus is a separate being? Do the rights and care of a fetus at 22 weeks change if the fetus is in a man-made incubator versus the uterus of a woman?”

But delegate Dr Kavita Arora, from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, opposed both motions, claiming that “policy should be based on science” rather than “misinformation or disinformation”.

Biological sex

In 2021, the AMA called for biological sex to be removed from birth certificates.

The association claimed it would “advocate for the removal of sex as a legal designation on the public portion of the birth certificate”, with biological sex being visible for “medical and statistical use only”.