OB-GYN training programs are facing a catch-22: If they offer abortion training in states where its outlawed, they could be prosecuted. If they don't, they'll risk losing their accreditation and their residents would be ineligible for specialty board certification, The New York Times reported Oct. 27.
The problem began in September when the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education reaffirmed the long-standing requirement for OB-GYN residency programs to provide abortion training.
"We feel that abortion, or evacuating the uterus, is a core procedure for OB-GYN. It's also used for management of miscarriages and complications of pregnancy like infection and bleeding,” John Combes, MD, a spokesperson for the council, told the Times. "So it's a technique that has to be learned."
Programs can maintain accreditation by sending residents to do clinic roations in states where abortion is legal, but program directors fear legal action if they do.
"You have a legal body, the state, saying abortion is a crime and an accrediting body saying it's a crucial part of training," Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California Davis, said in the report. "I can't think of anything else like that."