An academic journal is retracting studies by anti-abortion researchers, claiming that their ties to groups that oppose abortion is a “conflict of interest.” But it and other academic journals routinely publish studies by pro-abortion researchers, even when those researchers are funded by groups that are pro-abortion, or provide abortions.
The College Fix reports that Sage Journals retracted three abortion studies by pro-life researchers. Those researchers are now saying they will sue over the retraction:
Lead researcher James Studnicki, vice president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute and former faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, told The College Fix the journal has demonstrated “blatant double standards” in its retractions that involve conflicts of interest disclosures. “Our team of researchers has refuted every single critique about the research and we encourage all to read the studies to understand the reasoning behind the methodology and our rebuttals to the critiques,…There is no legitimate reason for Sage’s retractions.”
On Wednesday, the Charlotte Lozier Institute told The Fix via email that their research organization “is pursuing appropriate legal action.” “Sage’s actions have unnecessarily and demonstrably harmed” the researchers’ professional reputations, their attorney David Shaneyfelt wrote…Sage Journals announced the retractions Feb. 5 on its website. Among other problems, the journal said the researchers stated they had no “conflicts of interest” even though they were affiliated “with pro-life advocacy organizations, including Charlotte Lozier Institute.”…
Two of the studies involved emergency room visits connected to complications from the abortion drug mifepristone, and the third examined doctors who perform abortions and their hospital admitting privileges.
In its announcement, Sage Journals said authors “declared no conflicts of interest,” but almost all of them had affiliations with pro-life advocacy organizations that “support judicial action to restrict access to mifepristone.”….
[But] its editors have not applied the same standards to researchers affiliated with pro-abortion groups….Sage published a 2010 article by the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion research organization, with “no disclosures” [and] a 2012 study “led by an abortionist with all authors affiliated” with the pro-abortion Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability – again with no disclosures…. “This blatant double standard is unacceptable,” Studnicki said. “To date, Sage has advanced no valid objection to their findings and has shown no evidence of any major errors, miscalculations, or falsehoods.”….Other affiliations that Sage cited as presenting a conflict of interest included the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Elliot Institute.
AAPLOG also defended the research by the physicians with ties to it. “The three studies Sage Publications has retracted are scientifically sound and reliable. No valid objection to their findings have been raised, nor has any legitimate reason for their retraction been offered. Sage’s actions will adversely impact evidence-based reproductive healthcare to the grave detriment of our women patients.” The retracted articles, published in 2019- 2022, can be found on the Charlotte Lozier Institute’s website assaultonscience.org.
