ANALYSIS: Of the 8 medical schools contacted in pro-life states, none would say if abortion laws affect their training
Some doctors are pushing back against a U.S. Congressional report that implies abortion restrictions hinder medical school training, saying it’s part of a “deceitful trend” of “scaring women and physicians into thinking they cannot get or provide necessary obstetric care.”
Additionally, none of the eight medical schools that The College Fix contacted in states with abortion bans responded to questions about whether the laws have affected their programs.
The investigative report spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, states pro-life laws will “decimate reproductive healthcare.” The report came out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where Pallone is the ranking member.
“In some restrictive states, reproductive medical training has been practically eliminated or limited to simulations and textbooks, which has forced many residents to travel out-of-state to receive essential training,” Pallone stated in a news release.
The report blames the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which allows states to ban elective abortions.
These laws have “changed the way OBGYNs and other providers can serve patients and how well the next generation of OBGYNs is being trained,” according to the report.
The report implies that state abortion bans are harming medical students’ ability to learn skills required to treat “premature rupture of membranes, ectopic pregnancy, and miscarriage.”
“Several providers explained that certain skills learned in abortion training are the same skills required to treat pregnancy complications including premature rupture of membranes, ectopic pregnancy, and miscarriage management,” the report states.
“Residents understand that developing these skills will make them more competent doctors and is key to serving patients with pregnancy complications and other routine reproductive health care needs,” according to the report.
The College Fix contacted eight medical schools in states with abortion bans, asking about the report and about whether the laws in their states have impacted pregnancy-related medical training at their institutions.
Only the University of Texas Health Houston responded, and its spokesperson declined to comment.
The Fix also contacted media relations at Emory University School of Medicine in Georgia, Baylor University School of Medicine in Texas, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Tennessee, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, and Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin several times via email, but none responded.
The congressional report is based on information from “interviews committee staff conducted with OB-GYN educators and residents from 20 programs.”
The Fix asked Pallone’s office via email if the House committee included interviews with any medical professionals who oppose elective abortions in the report. A spokesperson directed The Fix to the committee’s communications team, but neither Pallone’s spokesperson nor the communications team responded to several follow-up emails over the past month.
MORE: Researchers say medical residents avoiding pro-life states, but some OB-GYNs skeptical
Meanwhile, two leading pro-life OB-GYNs said the report’s assertions about medical training are not true.
Dr. Susan Bane, vice chair of the board at the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told The College Fix that the report is “correct that some of the procedures used in induced abortion – namely, dilation & curettage (D&C) and dilation & evacuation (D&E) — are the same procedures used for other indications, such as miscarriage management.”
However, “no abortion law bans any particular procedure, so medical residents can still obtain training in those procedures so long as they don’t use them to perform induced abortions,” Bane said in a recent email.
“Some have expressed concern that without performing induced abortions, residents will have a lower volume of patients with whom to practice D&Cs and D&Es, but physicians should nevertheless easily be able to obtain competency in those procedures,” she said.
Bane pointed to a 2019 study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that found 11 percent of OB-GYN residency programs are “in faith-based hospitals that do not offer induced abortions as a matter of policy.
“Yet their residents are able to meet (or exceed) the [Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education] requirements for D&Cs and D&Es performed to graduate their residency program,” she said.
Bane said she never performed an induced abortion during her medical residency, but she still graduated and became a board-certified OB-GYN. She said her training prepared her well “to serve my patients with essential reproductive healthcare services.”
Dr. Ingrid Skop, vice president and director of medical affairs for the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a pro-life research organization, shared similar thoughts with The Fix.
“Obstetricians obtain the clinical skills needed to care for women suffering pregnancy emergencies (such as ectopic, miscarriage and PPROM) by caring for women who present with these complications during their four-year obstetric residency training,” Skop said in an email.
“It is not necessary, nor desirable, to intentionally end embryonic or fetal life through abortion, in order to train residents in those skills. This statement demonstrates blatant ignorance about the purpose of medicine, which is to heal and not kill,” Skop said.
A report that Skop co-authored earlier this year found medical school enrollment has increased over the past five years, including in pro-life states.
Of the 25 obstetrics and gynecology programs newly accredited in the past five years, more than half are located in states that restrict abortion, according to the report published by the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
“The fact that the overwhelming majority – nearly 90 percent – of OB/GYNs don’t even perform elective abortions shows just how removed abortion is from necessary health care for women,” Skop told The Fix.
“The answer to confusion among the public and physicians about pro-life laws is more education from the states, as South Dakota and Texas have done, not weakening pro-life protections,” she said.
Skop said the House committee’s report “continues the deceitful trend of scaring women and physicians into thinking they cannot get or provide necessary obstetric care post Dobbs and may sadly result in women not seeking the timely care they need.”
MORE: My entire law class supports abortion done on basis of fetus’ sex, race, or disability status
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