USA – ‘We weren’t meant to be criminals’: the gynecologists training out of state post-Roe

As abortion bans sweep the nation, OB-GYN residents rotate to abortion-supportive states to meet their program requirements

by Melanie Sevcenko
Sun 18 Jun 2023

Rachel is a third-year OB-GYN resident at a medical institute in Texas and last year, when the Dobbs vote overturned Roe v Wade, her education was derailed. For her safety, she declined to offer her last name or where she studies. In June 2022, the state’s “trigger law” went into effect and abortions became illegal – first after six weeks, now full stop.

“I was horrified and angry,” said Rachel, when Roe was reversed.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/18/obgyn-doctor-abortion-law-ban


To Get Abortion Training, Some Medical Students Must Leave Their States — and Come to California

Sydney Johnson
Jun 9, 2023

Kelly Mamelson has spent most of her life in Florida, including the last two years as a medical resident specializing in obstetrics and gynecology. But because of the state’s attempts to restrict abortion care, she’ll have to travel out of state to complete her training as an OB-GYN doctor. Like many in her position, she’s not planning to practice in Florida once she finishes — but hasn’t ruled out returning to her home state altogether.

“We feel we are abandoning our patients, but we feel we have no option other than to go out of state to get this training,” Mamelson said Friday at a panel discussion hosted by UCSF’s Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health.

Continued: https://www.kqed.org/news/11952673/to-get-abortion-training-some-medical-students-must-leave-their-states-and-come-to-california


USA – Medical students worry about where to train as several states enact abortion restrictions

By James Pollard, Associated Press
Oct 19, 2022

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Students in obstetrics-gynecology and family medicine — two of the most popular medical residencies — face tough choices about where to advance their training in a landscape where legal access to abortion varies from state to state.

Abortions are typically performed by OB-GYNs or family doctors, and training generally involves observing and assisting in the procedure, often in outpatient clinics. Many doctors and students now worry about nonexistent or subpar training in states where clinics closed or abortion laws were otherwise tightened after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/medical-students-worry-about-where-to-train-as-several-states-enact-abortion-restrictions


After Dobbs, U.S. medical students head abroad for abortion training no longer provided by their schools

By Olivia Goldhill
Oct. 18, 2022

A fourth-year medical student, Tema, faced an abrupt interruption to her education earlier this year. A state law banning abortion after six weeks went into effect hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and two days later, the clinic where her school provided first-hand abortion experience shut down.

“I’d do my patients a great disservice if I’m not trained in abortion,” said Tema, who is planning to become a family planning doctor, and asked that she be identified only by her first name for fear of repercussions by her medical school. “I’m going into a career where I care about reproductive health, I need to understand all aspects of it.” Without help from the school, Tema had to find an alternative herself, and will travel abroad next month to observe abortions being performed in a clinic in London.

Continued: https://www.statnews.com/2022/10/18/medical-students-heading-abroad-for-abortion-training/


Abortion Bans Are Limiting What Some Doctors and Med Students Are Taught

The shortage of abortion providers is expected to worsen, post-Roe

By Ella Ceron
10 July 2022

Abortion care is one of the most common medical procedures in the US, yet even before the fall of Roe v. Wade, doctors and students had to navigate tricky legal and educational hurdles to train as abortion providers. With last month’s Supreme Court decision freeing states to ban abortions, those barriers are growing.

Some abortion advocates are warning that recent moves could aggravate the nationwide shortage of trained abortion providers, making the procedure scarcer — even in blue states that are acting to guarantee access — than first thought. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-10/abortion-bans-are-limiting-what-some-doctors-and-med-students-are-taught


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/