JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Professional medical organizations publish policy statements that are used to impact legislation or address societal issues. Many organizations are nonpartisan, yet it is uncertain whether their policy statements balance liberal and conservative values. We determined the political viewpoint (liberal vs conservative) of policy statements from six organizations: American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American College of Surgeons (ACS), American Psychiatric Association (APA), American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), American College of Physicians (ACP), and American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

Objective:

To evaluate the political alignment of policy statements from six influential medical organizations including: AAP, ACS, APA, ACOG, ACP, AAFP.

Methods:

Between 12/2023 – 2/2024, policy statements from the six organizations were identified and evaluated using ChatGPT 4.0, to remove bias. Each statement was pasted into a new ChatGPT session following the phrase, “Does this text align with a liberal or conservative viewpoint?” Two authors reviewed each response and categorized the statement as: liberal; probably liberal (PL); neutral; probably conservative (PC); conservative.

Results:

One third of policy statements were found to be aligned with a political ideology (529/1592). Among these, 516 (98%) were liberal or PL and 13 (2%) were conservative or PC. For each organization, among policy statements with a political leaning, the percentage of liberal or PL statements was: 100% – AAP; 100% – ACOG; 100% – ACS; 99% – APA; 97% – AAFP; 96% – ACP.

Conclusions:

One in three policy statements from these six professional organizations are politically partisan. Among these, positions are 40-times more likely to be liberal or PL than conservative or PC. Whether or not organizations are politically neutral and seek viewpoint diversity warrants further exploration.