An advocacy group suing the federal government in a bid to limit nationwide access to the abortion drug mifepristone has wrestled for a decade to conceal the influence its religious beliefs exert over its public policy pursuits. The doctor-focused organization, which calls itself the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), wants to ban abortion, affirmative care for transgender youth, and the parental rights of non-hetero couples
ACPeds has long described itself, publicly and in court, as a “secular, scientific medical association.” But hundreds of confidential records leaked last month raise serious doubts about the veracity of those claims. A cache of more than 10,000 files inadvertently exposed by the group’s website, as first reported by WIRED on Tuesday, shows that ACPeds’ board members have continuously struggled to contain their motives and have debated the “pros and cons” of openly declaring their religious foundation.
The American College of Pediatricians, which is not a school, is joined by three other conservative medical groups and four physicians in pursuing the ban on mifepristone. A US federal appeals court hearing the case in New Orleans will convene later this month to hear arguments on whether to reverse or uphold a district court ruling that imposed a nationwide stay of the Federal Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone in April, effectively blocking access to the drug.
The US Supreme Court intervened to halt the order in mid-April after an emergency relief petition was filed by the FDA. The case is now back with the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which is arguably the nation’s most conservative court.
ACPeds has not responded to WIRED’s multiple requests for comment.
“They don't want to debate us because they can't beat us on the facts and the science,” Jill Simons, the group's executive director, said today to the Daily Signal, a political blog published by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Simons said the group's “key technology structures” had faced a “concerted attack” that she believed was the work of a “professional.”
A statement to members from Simons calling the incident a “hate crime” originally printed by the Daily Signal has been removed without explanation.
Board meeting minutes dated as far back as 2014 raise questions about the group's candor in its public portrayals of its work and the means by which it arrives at seemingly medical-based recommendations. The group has claimed on its website not to “inquire about or use an individual's religious or political identification as criteria for membership,” a statement aimed at assuaging concerns that its recommendations aren’t backed purely by medical science. Documents reviewed by WIRED, however, show that the group views “mainstream medicine, psychology, [and] academia” as top threats to its mission.
Unequivocally, ACPeds’ recruitment efforts are focused on individuals it believes are both religious and conservative, for all its protestations to the contrary. A 2017 document, for instance, revealed that the group had recently set a goal of contacting “Christian medical schools to recruit members.” The following year, it solicited fundraising advice from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal advocacy group that has provided ACPeds with free legal services and is currently representing it in the fight over mifepristone. The advice it received was redundant: “TARGET CHRISTIAN MDs.”