Med schools may have been intimidated by survey.(National Abortion Federation)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

After bitterly complaining for years that the number of obstetrics and gynecology residency programs that provide abortion training is declining, abortion industry representatives are now singing a different tune. They are touting the results of a recent survey purporting to show a significant increase in the number of obstetrics and gynecology residency programs that now routinely train medical students to perform abortions. Yet a closer examination suggests that the changes may not be nearly as dramatic as indicated.

The results of the survey of the 261 accredited U.S. residency programs in obstetrics and gynecology, sponsored by the National Abortion Federation (NAF), was published in the November/December 2000 issue of Family Planning Perspectives.

A full 81% of the 179 programs that responded to the 1998 survey said training in first-trimester abortion was offered in residency programs, either routinely (46%), or as an elective (34%). Nearly as many (74%) said they offered second-trimester abortion training either routinely or as an elective.

The figure of 46% of residency programs that routinely offer training in first-trimester abortions represents a near four-fold increase over the 1995 figure of 12%.

Seeking to translate survey data from programs into data on individual residents, the authors of the article--Rene Almeling, Laureen Tews, and Susan Dudley--took data from the survey and correlated it to information on program size gleaned from the 1998-99 American Medical Association directory. They calculated that 84% of ob-gyn residents were enrolled in accredited obstetrics and gynecology residency programs that offered first-trimester abortion training, with just less than half (49%) involved in residency programs that offered such training routinely.

Vicki Saporta, executive director of NAF, attributes the increase to new guidelines put in place by the powerful Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in 1996. Those guidelines mandated abortion training in all U.S. medical residency programs that did not have religious or moral objections. The ACGME is the organization that handles medical school accreditation in the U.S.

"We believe the ACGME training requirement has substantially impacted the availability of abortion training," said Saporta. "We worked closely with other organizations to make the ACGME aware of the lack of access to abortion training for many residents. This survey confirms that the requirement was needed, and that it has made a difference. Not only are many more residency programs offering routine abortion training, but those programs that aren't are contacting NAF and others to aid them in meeting the requirement."