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States with abortion restrictions could bleed doctors and further restrict access to reproductive health care, a study suggests.
The findings showed that most medical students are unlikely to do their residency program in states with strict abortion limits.
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.
This reluctance and lack of physicians in these states could further strain reproductive health care in the 33 states that lack abortion protection.
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
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
More than a dozen states have restricted access to abortions after the overthrow of Roe V Wade
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.
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.
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.
More than 72 percent of respondents said access to abortion would affect where they start a family.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Several other states have imposed restrictions, including Florida, Arizona, Utah, Ohio and Georgia.
Many of these states also have higher infant mortality rates than those where access to abortion is not as restricted.
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.
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.
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.
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.