Two important resources for your center and medical director

by Susan Dammann RN, Medical Specialist

Dedicated to the care and preservation of both mother and fetus in every pregnancy, Pro-Life Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) is an association of pro-life doctors of like mind to AAPLOG (American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists).

This unique organization represents a contingent of life-minded Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) practitioners. (MFM is a subspecialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology dealing with all matters that can affect the health of a mother or fetus from before conception to the postpartum period.)

Members of Pro-Life MFM are also affiliated with the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, a special interest group of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology who have received additional training and performed research in the care and management of pregnant women and fetuses.

The Role of Pro-Life MFM Practitioners

MFM professionals are specialists in high-risk pregnancy situations, and hold a uniquely expert place in relation to rank-and-file OB/GYN physicians or oncologists. MFM specialists are involved in guiding the management of medical and surgical complications a mother may encounter during pregnancy.

MFM specialists also provide diagnosis and management of medical and surgical conditions for the fetus. Care may include in utero treatment, modification of delivery timing or mode, and facilitation and coordination of care for the infant after delivery.

When a client presents in your center with a negative maternal or fetal diagnosis, there are alternatives to help ensure the survival of both mother and baby. For example, many women with a breast cancer diagnosis have carried their pregnancies to term and done better than women who abort.
Are you looking for a pro-life Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist in your area? Visit Pro-Life MFM’s physician directory.

Hear from a Pro-Life MFM Expert

Dr. Murphy Goodwin, a well-known pro-life maternal fetal medicine specialist, wrote an excellent article called Medicalizing Abortion Decisions. Dr. Goodwin, whose obstetric practice in the Los Angeles area has been the largest in the United States for most of the last 15 years, serves many of the high-risk deliveries in the area.

While describing five cases of successful delivery where a mother had abortion recommended to her, Dr. Goodwin states that because of the dangerous combination of an ambivalent attitude toward the developing human in the medical community and fear of liability issues (owing to the unbalanced legal burden of informed consent and “wrongful birth”), physicians are often not providing readily available information that could affect their patients’ judgment regarding abortion when that mother has a major medical problem in pregnancy or any medical problem.

To suggest or recommend that abortion is the safest route carries no such responsibility, as there is no set legal precedent for a physician’s liability in a case where abortion was recommended on supposed medical grounds—even if that recommendation was subsequently found to be baseless or misrepresented.

Tragically, as Dr. Goodwin points out, “There is no counterweight to ‘wrongful birth.’ There is no ‘wrongful abortion.’

These are two helpful resources you’ll want to keep handy and make available to your medical director!