Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding States With Abortion Restrictions - KFF Health News
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A new analysis shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply this year for residency positions in states with abortion bans and other significant abortion restrictions.

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According to new statistics from the Association of American Medical Colleges, for the second year in a row, students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply this year for residency positions in states with abortion bans and other significant abortion restrictions.

Since the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, state fights over abortion access have created plenty of uncertainty for pregnant patients and their doctors. But that uncertainty has also bled into the world of medical education, forcing some new doctors to factor state abortion laws into their decisions about where to begin their careers.

Fourteen states, primarily in the Midwest and South, have banned nearly all abortions. The new analysis by the AAMC — a preliminary copy of which was exclusively reviewed by KFF Health News before its public release — found that the number of applicants to residency programs in states with near-total abortion bans declined by 4.2%, compared with a 0.6% drop in states where abortion remains legal.

Notably, the AAMC’s findings illuminate the broader problems abortion bans can create for a state’s medical community, particularly in an era of provider shortages: The organization tracked a larger decrease in interest in residencies in states with abortion restrictions not only among those in specialties most likely to treat pregnant patients, like OB-GYNs and emergency room doctors, but also among aspiring doctors in other specialties.

    • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.world
      227·
      6 months ago

      Actually, I’m in my thirties and never actually took Catechism courses, or had first communion. I don’t watch Fox News. Fox News is just looking to publish anything that grabs attention. I don’t agree with abortion, but I realize everyone is entitled to their own view. My biggest fear for doctors, is the threat of gangs putting hits on their lives for having any involvement in some procedure, like an abortion. I bet they even fear for their lives if they resuscitate a gang member that’s admitted to the ER with gunshot wounds, or stab wounds. I don’t look at my opinion from other stand points, on this one. Doctors need to protect themselves, too.