Introduction: After the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, the U.S. health care workforce faces challenges responding to the critical reduction to access of abortion services. A recent study identified only 3,550 clinicians providing abortions; a majority identified their specialty as obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN, 72%), family medicine (9%), and advanced practice registered nurses (8%). Integrated abortion training during residency is a strong predictor of future abortion provisions. We evaluated publicly accessible information about residency programs with integrated abortion training that applicants could access. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of integrated abortion training family medicine residencies (RHEDI) and OBGYN residencies (Ryan) was performed to identify which online platforms and terminology were used to indicate a program offers integrated abortion training. Result: There are 34 RHEDI and 104 Ryan programs. Of those, 91.3% of programs had information on their website regarding integrated abortion training. Terms most used by RHEDI residency websites included reproductive (70.6%), abortion (67.6%), and RHEDI (50.0%). Terms used by Ryan residency websites included family planning (88.5%), Ryan (47.1%), and abortion (44.2%). The majority of RHEDI programs are in abortion-protective states, whereas Ryan programs are more evenly distributed (79.4% and 51.9%, p = 0.005). Integrated abortion training programs were commonly listed on other platforms including the RHEDI or Ryan website (100%) and Reddit (94.9%). Conclusion: Most integrated abortion training residencies included public-facing information. Students seeking residencies that provide integrated abortion training will likely find the information on the residency webpage; however, are most successful when identifying training through websites such as RHEDI, Ryan, or Reddit. As federal legislation moves to restrict abortion care, accessible training information is essential.
Albanese et al. (Sun,) studied this question.