Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)
The
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons is a small group of physicians who, under a false authoritative name, advocate for
far-right conservative values in the practice of
medicine. While purporting to have high regard for the
Hippocratic Oath, "the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship, and the "practice of private medicine",
[1] it appears to treat these concepts as
terms of art. Despite also calling itself "non-partisan", its main focus appears to be opposing
abortion,
vaccination,
universal health care coverage and
Obamacare in particular, and
birth control.
These concerns evidence a particular contempt for women's health and wellness. The AAPS specifically opposes
vaccination for HPV,
[2] a known
cancer-causing virus for which a vaccine administered to young women is extremely effective. The group also makes the objectively false claim that there is a meaningful correlation between
abortion and breast cancer.
[3]
Its website offers this ridiculous claim:
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a non-partisan professional association of physicians in all types of practices and specialties across the country. Since 1943, AAPS has been dedicated to the highest ethical standards of the Oath of Hippocrates and to preserving the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship and the practice of private medicine. Our motto, "omnia pro aegroto" means "all for the patient."[4]
The AAPS is listed as a
quack organization by
Quackwatch[5]. The organization has made the questionable decision of engaging
homeschool instructor and
Conservapedia founder
Andrew Schlafly as its general counsel to represent its interests in a variety of matters, including filing
amici briefs in appellate litigation and even representing member physicians in disciplinary proceedings.
As of 2016, their president, Melinda Woofter, has stated:
We have witnessed an accelerated transformation of our profession away from individualized patient care toward politicized and collectivized “evidence-based medicine.” Without a doubt, this one-size-fits-all approach does not work and never can
