USA – Fewer medical students trained for abortion procedures

The number of med schools and residency programs where aspiring physicians can learn to perform abortion procedures continues to shrink.

March 22, 2022
By Sarah Varney

A barrage of abortion restrictions rippling across the country, from Florida to Texas to Idaho, is shrinking the already limited training options for U.S. medical students and residents who want to learn how to perform abortion procedures.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends standardized training on abortion care during medical residency, the training period after medical school that provides future physicians on-the-job experience in a particular specialty. But the number of residency programs located in states where hospital employees are prohibited from performing or teaching about abortion — or at Catholic-owned hospitals with similar bans — has skyrocketed in recent years, an overlooked byproduct of anti-abortion legislation taking root in the American South, Midwest, and Mountain states.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/fewer-medical-students-trained-abortion-procedures-rcna21003


USA – Amid abortion rights threat, OB-GYNs more vocal with support

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has been defending abortion in recent lawsuits challenging state restrictions

By TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press
8 March 2022

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- As the Supreme Court mulls whether to uphold Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists filed a brief against the state law, calling it “fundamentally at odds with the provision of safe and essential healthcare.”

But the organization’s support for abortion hasn’t always been unequivocal. After the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteed the right to abortion, American OB-GYNs remained divided on the issue. Many declined to perform elective abortions either out of moral opposition or because they wanted to avoid the “butcher” stigma that still clung to abortion doctors from the pre-Roe days.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/amid-abortion-rights-threat-ob-gyns-vocal-support-83319403


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/