A shortage of OB/GYNs is not due to pro-life laws, but could be partially due to the persecution of pro-life healthcare professionals, according to a pro-life activist.
Gavin Oxley detailed his concerns with how the environment in medical schools and a lack of conscience protections for pro-life doctors could be turning prospective OB/GYNs away from joining the field.
He wrote in Fox News:
Being a current medical school applicant myself who also runs the medical student programming with Students for Life of America and Future Medical Professionals for Life, I hear stories from students regularly who would rather practice a less controversial specialty for fear of persecution or even students who have opted for another career path after completing medical school or residency.
“Yet the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) states that only 14 percent of practicing OB-GYNs provide abortions in their practice,” Oxley (pictured) wrote. “Discriminating against anyone with a moral reservation about providing abortions, when clearly most OB-GYNs do not provide them, is sure to drive away new parties interested in practicing Hippocratic medicine, to do no harm,” Oxley wrote.
He made some suggestions for what could help:
With pro-abortion medical students and residents more likely to seek education in pro-abortion states and pro-life medical students being discouraged from entering the OB-GYN specialty altogether, pro-life states must do something to attract students back to their states. Pro-life students need to be welcomed into the medical profession.
Legislatures in pro-life states can protect their OB-GYN workforce by doubling-down on [conscience protections]. We need pro-life state legislatures to pass new and innovative pro-life medical education bills to provide adequate funding.
“With the long-standing shortage of OB-GYNs well-documented over the past several years, the medical education system cannot afford to discriminate against students desiring an evidence-based, pro-life practice,” Oxley wrote. “Let’s not hinder those with a heart for the Hippocratic oath.”
MORE: Bowling Green student charge with vandalism of pro-life center
IMAGE: Students for Life of America
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
Add to the Discussion