Abortion training under threat for med students, residents

For many U.S. medical students and residents seeking abortion training, options are scant and under threat

Browse any medical dictionary, and before hitting appendectomy and anesthesia, you’ll find abortion.

The first two procedures are part of standard physician education. But for many U.S. medical school students and residents who want to learn about abortions, options are scarce.

And new restrictions are piling up: Within the past year, bills or laws seeking to limit abortion education have been proposed or enacted in at least eight states. The changes are coming from abortion opponents emboldened by new limits on the procedure itself, as well as a pending Supreme Court decision that could upend the landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

“It’s quite terrifying what’s going on,” said Ian Peake, a third-year medical student in Oklahoma, where the governor on April 12 signed a measure outlawing most abortions.