States with abortion restrictions could bleed doctors and further restrict access to reproductive health care, a study suggests.
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The findings showed that most medical students are unlikely to do their residency program in states with strict abortion limits.
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The research, which will be presented this weekend at the annual meeting of the US Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, comes at a time when the US is already experiencing a shortage of OB/GYN physicians.
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This reluctance and lack of physicians in these states could further strain reproductive health care in the 33 states that lack abortion protection.
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Findings from the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists show that more than half of incoming physicians are unlikely to practice in states with strict abortion bans
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Data published this year from the American Association of Medical Colleges found a 10.5 percent decrease in OB/GYN residency applications in states with near-total abortion bans
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More than a dozen states have restricted access to abortions after the overthrow of Roe V Wade
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The inquiry was held from August through October last year, just after the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade, who granted abortion rights in the US for nearly 50 years.
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Respondents included 494 medical students in 32 states. Most were women, and 76.9 percent said access to abortion care would influence their choice of where to stay.
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The majority of respondents, 57.9 percent, said they were unlikely or very unlikely to sign up for a single residency program in a state with abortion restrictions.
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More than 72 percent of respondents said access to abortion would affect where they start a family.
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These findings come at a time when the U.S. is already facing a physician shortage for the next year. According to the American Association of Medical Collegesthe US can expect a shortage of 37,800 to 124,000 physicians by 2034.
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Additionally Data for 2023 of the organization found a significant drop in the number of medical students attending OB/GYN programs in states with strict abortion policies.
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There was a 5.2 percent decrease in applications across all states, regardless of abortion laws. That rate fell to a drop of 10.5, almost double, in states with near-total bans.
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Abortion is completely banned in the following states: Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Idaho.
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Several other states have imposed restrictions, including Florida, Arizona, Utah, Ohio and Georgia.
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Many of these states also have higher infant mortality rates than those where access to abortion is not as restricted.
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The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the national infant mortality rate in 2017 – according to the latest available data – was 5.8 per 1,000 live births.
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In Missouri, where abortion is banned, the rate was 6.2 per 1,000 live births. Louisiana, which has similar restrictions, had a death rate of 7.1 per 1,000 live births.
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However, the highest death rate in the country is in Mississippi, with 8.6 deaths per 1,000 births. The state closed its last abortion clinic in July 2022, right after the Roe v Wade decision.
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States such as Missouri, Louisiana and Georgia also had higher rates of childbirth-related deaths than less restricted areas, according to United Health Foundation rankings. These states ranked 42nd, 47th, and 48th out of 50, respectively.
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Over half of med students ‘unlikely’ to apply to practice in state with restrictions
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