Obstetrics and gynecology resident Dr. Cory Reiter travels more than 200 miles round trip from Indianapolis to an Illinois clinic once a week to learn how to perform abortions, which she deems a vital aspect of health care.
Dr. Karen Deighan, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Loyola University, near the Chicago Riverwalk on June 8, 2022, in Chicago. Since the end of Roe, Planned Parenthood of Illinois has seen a roughly 60% increase in trainees at its clinics, with many traveling here from other states.
“When I said Illinois would be an oasis for women seeking reproductive care, I meant it,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in the statement, adding that the grant will “help offer health care providers — who are meeting the moment with compassion and service — access to the training and mentorship they need to deliver the care women deserve.”
The day the Supreme Court reversed Roe, Reiter felt “emotionally upset but highly motivated” to provide high-quality abortion care, she recalled. The clinic has provided training for 10 learners so far, mostly a mix of medical students and residents, who train in two-to-four-week rotations. Bryant was the first advanced practice nursing student to train there.
Before the abortion, the patient was offered various contraception options but declined, saying that birth control was against her religion. There’s already some evidence that abortion restrictions might be impacting physicians’ decision on where to train: After the fall of Roe, students graduating from medical schools in the United States were less likely to apply for residency positions in states with abortion bans and severe restrictions, according to an analysis by the
Bane added that “there is no evidence that the decline in residency applications in pro-life states is translating into a shortage of physicians training in those states,” noting that the study also found that nearly all obstetrics and gynecology residency positions across states were filled this year; residencies for most other large medical specialties also filled at rates similar to previous years.