OBGYNs in Texas and other abortion ban states are terrified.
If they even try to save a pregnant woman’s life who is miscarrying, they could go to prison for 99 years.
Abortion bans are affecting how they treat pregnant women - or don’t treat them. And they are affecting medical students who want to be OBYGNs. They can’t stay in their states to learn how to properly perform medically necessary D & C’s and D &E’s, which are used to evacuate a woman’s uterus in an abortion and other non abortion procedures.
Despite this, lots of people living in abortion ban states , don’t think the bans will ever affect them or anyone they love.
But sorry, they have to think again. So please pass this info along.
Consider this - there’s already a dangerous shortage of OBGYNs in Texas. Any woman who gets pregnant there may have trouble finding an OB to deliver her baby and the shortage will only get worse as the medical residents like the one I’ve interviewed below, leave Texas to get the training they desperately need.
But beyond that, abortion bans aren’t just affecting OBGYNs. It turns out that since the Supreme Court overturned Roe V Wade, a huge number of graduating medical students of all medical specialties are shunning residences at hospitals in abortion ban states, according to a new study.
Like 42% of medical students - so A LOT!
When doctors choose to do their residencies in hospitals in non abortion ban states, they are most likely to stay in those states to practice. That means a whole lot less family physicians, cardiologists, pediatricians, dermatologists ie doctors that non pregnant women need will actually be practicing in Red abortion ban states.
Those shortages will affect everyone who lives in Florida, North and South Dakota, Idaho, Georgia, Wyoming, Arkansas, Missouri etc etc!
Texas doctor Jennifer Smith (not her real name) is a first-year obstetrics and gynecology resident training at a hospital outside the state. In my interview with her, Smith explains why it was impossible to finish her training as an OBGYN in Texas—and why she may never be able to return to practice in the state she loves.
“I was born in Houston. I grew up there, and went to medical school there as well. But right now I am in the first year of an OB-GYN residency in Washington, D.C.
I’m 29, but I’ve felt called to be a doctor since I was 5 or 6 years old.
My father is a physician, so I had early exposure to hospitals and to medicine as a way to reduce suffering. I also just loved science.
The reason I stayed in Texas for medical school was largely practical. As a Texas resident, in-state tuition is very affordable.
I chose to be an OB-GYN because I feel strongly about supporting women and amplifying their voices. I’m also fascinated by everything, from the physiology of the female reproductive system to my first experiences delivering babies.
I love delivering babies. It’s an honor to be present at such a vulnerable moment in someone’s life.
Many people describe it as the best day of their lives, but it’s not always. For some, it’s the scariest.
So I think it’s important to have a lot of emotional flexibility and be able to read people and figure out what they need in that moment.
If that’s something that I can do for someone. If I can make them feel assured and reduce their anxiety and amplify their joy, then that’s something that I want to do.
As well, all the fundamentals of being a general OBGYN - contraceptive counseling, annual checkups and screenings - for example, with pap smears to detect cervical cancer, all feel so meaningful to me.
Once I complete my residency and am ready to practice, a lot of my emphasis would be on preventative care.
I want to be the best OB-GYN I can be. To do that, I had to move to a place without abortion restrictions to get exposure to care that is restricted in Texas. My goal is to bring those skills back home.
During medical school, I had to leave Texas for a month to take a course on the West Coast in complex family planning. Those courses include instruction in abortion care, so I needed to study them in a state without restrictions.
I also learned how to counsel patients with complex medical conditions on how to find the right contraceptive options.
It was critical to my education.
If Texas’ abortion restrictions weren’t in place, I could have learned this in-state.
Now, during my residency in Washington DC I’m also learning procedures to evacuate the uterus in cases of complications—for example, when a fetus dies early in pregnancy. In those cases, it can become dangerous if the pregnancy tissue is not expelled quickly.
The skills needed to safely care for those patients are better developed in places without restrictions.
There is extensive data showing the consequences of restricting abortion care. Major medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the World Health Organization, say abortion should not be restricted.
We are seeing the health consequences in Texas.”
NEWS NOTE: At least four pregnant women—three of them mothers—have died after delays in care linked to the state’s abortion bans. Three died after miscarriages when treatment was delayed. Another died of a stroke after not being offered an abortion despite severe complications, including high blood pressure, blood clots and diabetes.
“At this point in my residency in Washington, my intention is to return to Texas to practice. This is the community that inspired me to become a physician. It’s the community I know and feel best equipped to serve.
I don’t want to be a doctor who flees the state because of all the laws and restrictions against abortion because Texans deserve high quality OBGYN care.
Texas already faces a significant physician shortage, especially in rural areas.”
NEWS NOTE: A survey of all Texas OBGYNs in 2024 showed that by 2030 that Texas would have a shortage of 15 % of needed OBGYNs. An analysis by the Gender Equity Policy Institute has also revealed that maternal mortality skyrocketed 56% between 2019 and 2022, in Texas after the state implemented the country’s first abortion ban. Even more women will die in Texas while pregnant, giving birth or after birth if they don’t have access to a OBGYN or family physician trained in obstetrics.
Already 45% of Texas counties are considered ‘maternity care deserts’, which means that there is no doctor for a pregnant woman to see for care during her pregnancy and there is no medical center where she can give birth.
“After I finish my residency, while there are very clear opportunities to improve care in my hometown of Houston, I’d like to travel around the state to figure out how to bring care to places where people have to travel hours to get to the nearest OBGYN.
I went into this profession to fill gaps in women’s reproductive health.
While I still intend to return to Texas, I can’t predict what the legal landscape will look like by the time I finish my residency.
My personal safety is a concern.
I don’t know how the (anti abortion ) laws will change. If they further deteriorate, then I will have to do a risk assessment.”
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