U.S. Abortion Ban Drastically Limits Training for Incoming Medical Students

According to a report released today by Reuters, medical students are finding it harder and harder to receive an education on abortions in states with harsh trigger bans and restrictive abortion laws.

Credit: Getty Images
Credit: Getty Images

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is now affecting medical students. According to a report released today by Reuters, medical students are finding it harder and harder to receive an education on abortions in states with harsh trigger bans and restrictive abortion laws. As a result, many students are worried about the next generation of OB/GYNs.

Reuters interviewed a dozen doctors, activists, and medical students. “I’m very concerned that at some point very well-respected med schools are going to graduate students who have not received a modern medical education,” said Pamela Merritt, executive director of Medical Students for Choice, an abortion rights advocacy group. “Even if they get the green light to intervene to save the life of a pregnant person, they won’t actually be able to do it.”

States where abortion services have been stopped in many or all of their clinics, students who once shadowed physicians during their daily procedures are no longer able to learn firsthand or receive training from clinics.

A recent study published by the journal of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists predicted that only 56% of medical students will have access to abortion training, previously92% had access to training.

Dr. Jennifer Kerns, an associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, spoke exclusively to NowThis about her recent work to educate future physicians in 2021 and beyond. “We train our own residents and fellows, but we recently have been hosting residents from other programs in parts of the country where they can't get abortion training,” says Dr. Kerns. “There are a number of kind of initiatives at work in California right now to expand abortion provider training for nurse practitioners and physicians assistants”