Reimagining medical abortion in Australia: what do we need to do to meet women’s needs and ensure ongoing access?

Danielle Mazza
Med J Aust 2023; 218 (11): 496-498. || doi: 10.5694/mja2.51979
19 June 2023

There is much to be done to make high quality, accessible medical abortion a reality in Australia

The overturning of Roe v Wade in the United States has renewed impetus in Australia to ensure the availability of high quality, accessible abortion services. But decriminalisation and the availability of medical abortion do not in and of themselves mandate service delivery or ensure access. Numerous barriers continue to exist. These include issues such as inconsistent abortion laws, over‐regulation, lack of regional level planning and accountability for service delivery, sparse and inconsistent services across the country, inadequate numbers of skilled providers, a lack of training opportunities for the current and future workforce, and consumer concerns such as high costs and difficulty navigating services.

Continued: https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2023/218/11/reimagining-medical-abortion-australia-what-do-we-need-do-meet-womens-needs-and

The Potential End of Roe Won’t Stop This Abortion Provider-in-Training

A recent medical school graduate reflects on the intersection of race and reproductive rights

By Christina Sturdivant Sani
May 11, 2022

Sherry Reddix is a 2022 graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine and a future abortion provider. She will be starting a residency in family medicine in California. This interview has been edited and condensed.

I’m from Mississippi, and my whole family is in the field of medicine. My aunt, uncle and father are all physicians, and my mom is a nurse. My uncle was actually nominated to the State Board of Health in Mississippi in 2012. Then his nomination was blocked because he served as the emergency on-call physician for the abortion clinic in Jackson, the clinic at the center of the current Supreme Court case. It was my senior year of high school, and my phone was blowing up with calls and texts. My grandma was like ‘Uncle Carl is on Rachel Maddow!’

Continued https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/05/11/abortion-provider-in-training/

11.05.2022

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Interviews/Podcasts

Abortion Training Institute

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Medical Students for Choice

Serena Williams

Sherry Reddix

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Abortion training under threat for med students, residents

The Associated Press
April 18, 2022

Browse any medical dictionary, and before hitting appendectomy and anesthesia, you’ll find abortion. The first two procedures are part of standard physician education. But for many U.S. medical school students and residents who want to learn about abortions, options are scarce.

And new restrictions are piling up: Within the past year, bills or laws seeking to limit abortion education have been proposed or enacted in at least eight states. The changes are coming from abortion opponents emboldened by new limits on the procedure itself, as well as a pending Supreme Court decision that could upend the landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

Continued: https://wtop.com/education/2022/04/abortion-training-under-threat-for-med-students-residents/

USA – Medical Students Can’t Provide Abortions If They Never Learn How

Restrictions on training are not unusual, and it can prevent medical professionals from providing good care.

Aug 6, 2020
Alys Brooks

Brienna Milleson was a medical student working at the free clinic at Saint Louis University two years ago when a woman came in seeking a pregnancy test. It was positive, and the woman wasn’t sure whether she wanted to keep the pregnancy—a position many pregnant people are in each year. She wanted her doctor to explain her options.

Milleson didn’t know what to say to her, as her two years of medical school had never covered abortion, a procedure so common that 1 in 4 women have it by the time they’re 45. The more experienced student on duty didn’t know how to handle the situation either.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2020/08/06/medical-students-cant-provide-abortions-if-they-never-learn-how/

06.08.2020

abortion in hospitals

Amy Caldwell

Brienna Milleson

Lee Hasselbacher

medical school training

medical students and abortion

Medical Students for Choice

training abortion providers

training providers

Ob-Gyn teaching hospitals often restrict abortion beyond state law

Ob-Gyn teaching hospitals often restrict abortion beyond state law

May 31, 2020
Bixby Centre for Global Reproductive Health

Many women, especially those with complex medical needs, often rely on hospital-based abortions. Obstetrics and gynecology residency programs are required to provide access to abortion training but graduates frequently report that hospital policies interfere with their training. These facility-level abortion restrictions can affect both patient care and clinician instruction in teaching hospital settings.

ANSIRH researchers conducted a national survey of 169 OB-GYN teaching hospitals and found that the majority (57%) of residency training program directors reported that their facility had some sort of written or unwritten policy that restricted abortion provision beyond what their state law allowed.

Continued: https://bixbycenter.ucsf.edu/news/ob-gyn-teaching-hospitals-often-restrict-abortion-beyond-state-law

31.05.2020

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ANSIRH

Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health

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Being a Feminist Gynaecologist in the Patriarchal World of Medicine | #MyGynaecStory

Being a Feminist Gynaecologist in the Patriarchal World of Medicine | #MyGynaecStory

Posted on 20 November, 2019
by Suchitra Dalvie

This piece has been published as a part of the Health Over Stigma campaign, which is aimed at dismantling the stigma surrounding sexual health of unmarried women, and demanding accountability from medical service providers for stigma-free, non judgemental sexual and reproductive healthcare services. In this piece, a senior gynaecologist who is associated with the campaign reflects on being a feminist gynaecologist in a patriarchal medical universe.

As a woman and a feminist I am beyond delighted to see this campaign!

It is time for us to claim rights over our own bodies and the narratives of our sexual and reproductive lives. It is critical to start holding accountable the systems that have ignored, oppressed and failed us repeatedly. It is vital to create a new world where this becomes the norm.

Continued: http://asap-asia.org/blog/being-a-feminist-gynaecologist-in-the-patriarchal-world-of-medicine-mygynaecstory/#sthash.tj5mnbfj.dpbs

USA – Medical Residents Struggle to Find Abortion Training as Statewide Restrictions Tighten

Medical Residents Struggle to Find Abortion Training as Statewide Restrictions Tighten
Only about two-thirds of obstetrics and gynecology residency programs provide routine, scheduled abortion training.

Jul 5, 2019
Olivia Miltner

Dr. Maryam Guiahi was concerned when she applied for Loyola University Medical Center’s obstetrics and gynecology residency program. It was the mid-2000s, and family planning was becoming a more prominent component of OB/GYN care. Guiahi knew she wanted to learn how to provide abortions, but because Loyola was a Catholic-affiliated program, she wanted to make sure she could get this training during her residency.

Guiahi says during her residency interview, faculty downplayed the work she’d have to do to learn about abortions.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/07/05/medical-residents-struggle-to-find-abortion-training-as-statewide-restrictions-tighten/

Rwanda: How Literate are Health Care Providers about Abortion?

Rwanda: How Literate are Health Care Providers about Abortion?

By Dan Ngabonziza
June 10, 2019

Therese Mujawayezu is a 4th year medical student pursuing General Medicine at the University of Rwanda (UR).

Since childhood, she has been hearing elders describe abortion as a crime, a taboo – to be precise. As a medical student nearing completion and join the job market, Mujawayezu has been shying away whenever a subject on abortion comes up among her peers.

Continued: https://ktpress.rw/2019/06/rwanda-how-literate-are-health-care-providers-about-abortion/

USA – The other abortion ban

The other abortion ban
I wanted to provide abortions for my patients. My med school wouldn’t teach me how.

By Stephanie Ho
January 4, 2019

Last year brought one of the toughest moments I’d ever faced as a family doctor. A woman had shown up for her appointment after a three-hour drive to one of our clinics in Arkansas, and we had to turn her away. A state restriction had gone into effect, requiring that abortion providers contract with a physician who has hospital-admitting privileges. It works by weaponizing antiabortion attitudes within the medical community.

My staff and I had been attempting to comply with the law since it was passed in 2015. We reached out to every OB/GYN we could find. Receptionists would hang up on us or refuse to take a message. The doctors who did answer said that while they might personally support a woman’s right to choose, their colleagues did not. One told me that for him to sign on as a backup, he’d need permission not only from his hospital administrator but also from the Diocese of Little Rock — “and after that,” he added, “the pope.” We finally found a willing obstetrician in November.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2019/01/04/feature/i-wanted-to-provide-abortions-for-my-patients-my-med-school-wouldnt-teach-me-how/

USA – The Future Abortionists of America

The Future Abortionists of America
Abortions are simple procedures, yet fewer than 0.2% of U.S. doctors perform them. Meet the new guard trying to improve access for all.

Malcolm Harris
Sep 4, 2018

A sign in the lobby of the Philadelphia hotel read:

THERE ARE NO EVENTS SCHEDULED FOR TODAY
Please enjoy your day!

Meanwhile, in the ballroom upstairs, a significant portion of America’s current and future abortion providers were eating breakfast. The fake-out sign was one of multiple security measures, but the atmosphere at the Medical Students for Choice (MSFC) national conference still hummed with energy. Over the course of a day and a half, 450-plus medical students tried to absorb as much information as possible about providing abortions, information that — depending on where they go to school — can be extremely difficult to get. The vast majority of attendees were women in their early twenties. When the organization’s executive director Lois Backus announced that one of the two men’s rooms would defect for the weekend, an involuntary cheer passed through the audience, followed by laughter.

Continued; https://medium.com/s/youthnow/the-future-abortion-providers-of-america-9238b1664b93

04.09.2018