The American College of Pediatricians is a national organization of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals dedicated to the health and well-being of children.
Objectives
To foster and stimulate improvements in all aspects of healthcare of infants, children, and adolescents;
To promote the basic father-mother family unit as the optimal setting for childhood development, while pledging to support all children, regardless of their circumstances;
To affirm that parents have the inalienable right and responsibility to educate and rear their children;
To advocate for children at all stages of development, from conception to young adulthood;
To cultivate and encourage parental responsibility for and involvement in the child’s life;
To engender the honest interpretation of scientific pediatric research, without deference to current political persuasions;
To promote the highest standards of medical practice among its Members and within the field of pediatrics;
To encourage and support sound, ethical scientific research in all aspects of healthcare for infants, children, and adolescents; and
To cooperate with other organizations having similar purposes and standards.
Principles
The American College of Pediatricians:
Recognizes that there are absolutes and scientific truths that transcend relative social considerations of the day.
Recognizes that good medical science cannot exist in a moral vacuum and pledges to promote such science.
Recognizes the fundamental mother-father family unit, within the context of marriage, to be the optimal setting for the development and nurturing of children and pledges to promote this unit.
Recognizes the unique value of every human life from the time of conception to natural death and pledges to promote research and clinical practice that provides for the healthiest outcome of the child from conception to adulthood.
Recognizes the essential role parents play in encouraging and correcting the child and pledges to protect and promote this role.
Recognizes the physical and emotional benefits of sexual abstinence until marriage and pledges to promote this behavior as the ideal for adolescence.
Recognizes that health professionals caring for children must maintain high ethical and scientific standards and pledges to promote such practice.
History of the American College of Pediatricians
The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a national organization of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals dedicated to the health and well-being of children. It was founded by a group of concerned physicians who saw the need for a pediatric organization that would not be influenced by the politically driven pronouncements of the day. The ACPeds bases its policies and positions upon scientific truth within a framework of ethical absolutes. Of particular importance to the founders were (as it is today) the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death and the importance of the fundamental mother-father family unit in the rearing of children. The first official meeting of the newly formed college was held in Boston in October 2002.
The ACPeds is committed to fulfilling its mission by producing sound policy, based upon the best available research, to assist parents and to influence society in the endeavor of childrearing. Membership is open to qualifying healthcare professionals who share the ACPeds' Mission, Vision and Values. The ACPeds currently has members in 47 states, and several countries outside of the US. The ACPeds is a not-for-profit corporation organized for scientific and educational purposes, exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. The home office is in Atlanta, Georgia.