APSA Supports Equal Access for Reproductive Health Services

APSA supports our colleagues who provide critical maternal and fetal care. All people, in consultation with their physician, should have equal access to the full range of reproductive health services, including abortion.

The American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) joins the many medical and surgical organizations in support of our colleagues who care for pregnant patients. As pediatric surgeons, we believe that pregnant patients should be allowed to decide what is in the best interests of their own health and the well-being of their family. We believe the patient-physician relationship is important and should remain private. We believe that equitable access to high quality and safe prenatal care, including reproductive services and abortion, should be prioritized regardless of economic or geographic status.

APSA Members at the White House

APSA Members Jose Prince, Chethan Sathya, Peter Masiakos and past president Edward Barksdale, Jr. at the White House as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was signed into law on July 11, 2022.

APSA Members Jose Prince, Chethan Sathya, Peter Masiakos and past president Edward Barksdale, Jr., joined others at an event at the White House to commemorate recent passage of the gun safety bill as the first new law on guns in 30 years. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is legislation intended to curb gun violence that includes several provisions related to mental health services.

“The bipartisan bill came together just weeks after mass shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo that killed more than 30 people, including 19 children at an elementary school.

The law includes provisions to help states keep guns out of the hands of those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. It also blocks gun sales to those convicted of abusing unmarried intimate partners and cracks down on gun sales to purchasers convicted of domestic violence.”

The four APSA members, along with many others, have worked for a long time on gun violence through their research, education, and advocacy. At the event they heard President Biden call for assault weapons to be banned, a position held by the APSA Board and shared on social media.

Statement from the American Pediatric Surgical Association Board of Governors

As pediatric trauma surgeons, when a call goes out about an injured child, we are ready. We gather our teams and we plan, prepare and wait in our trauma bays for the victim to arrive. We have trained for this, practiced it, and, unfortunately, lived these resuscitations over and over and over in emergency rooms across the United States. When the weapon used to perpetrate harm is an assault rifle, often the victim does not even make it alive to our doors. The injury inflicted by an assault rifle is so massive and widespread the victim dies at the scene.

In the massacre that happened in Uvalde, TX, the victims were 9 and 10 year old children, averaging about 60 pounds in weight. The damage and injuries that these children sustained were so extreme and widespread that their own parents could not recognize them. DNA samples from their parents were required to identify the children.

The American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) calls for a new federal Assault Weapons Ban on military-style firearms. During the decade of the previous ban, public mass shootings and deaths decreased. Although these mass shootings are a small percentage of overall gun deaths each year, they have been used to perpetrate mass shootings of children and adults in public places that should be safe such as schools, grocery stores, theaters and churches. These weapons have the capacity for rapid fire and large numbers of rounds between reloads which increases their lethality and the number of victims. They have been used in many locations including Newtown, San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Parkland, and most recently in Uvalde, each incident killing more than a dozen people.

Pediatric Surgeons in the Media

Pediatric Surgeons on Gun Violence

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Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria, Baylor College of Medicine

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Dr. Patrick Bailey, American College of Surgeons

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Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria, Baylor College of Medicine

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Dr. Chethan Sathya, Cohen Children’s Medical Center, Northwell Health

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Gun Violence Education and Prevention

American Pediatric Surgical Association

More than 1,600 members strong, the American Pediatric Surgical Association is dedicated to saving lifetimes. APSA helps patients and families every day by:

Developing and sharing surgical standards and quality of care through influencing public policy around surgical care of children and the children’s surgery verification project
Supporting our members through initiatives on diversity, wellness, and educational resources such as the annual meeting, handbooks, and the Pediatric Surgery NaT, which was written by nearly 500 APSA volunteers
Advocating for the well-being and safety of children related to societal issues such as child abuse and gun violence.