According to new research published in Annals of Family Medicine, 29 percent of family medicine residency programs are located in states with abortion bans or severe abortion restrictions, limiting the medical education of nearly 4,000 residents each year.
The research brief, co-authored by RHEDI’s Director of DEIA and Strategic Planning, Diana Carvajal, emphasizes the need to expand abortion training and exposure in family medicine residency programs where abortion access remains. Expanded training will be vital to offset the lack of comprehensive training that residents in restricted states will face, along with the expected downstream effects on EPL management, contraception care, and other reproductive health services, in addition to abortion care. The brief also calls for more explicit ACGME requirements in family medicine regarding comprehensive reproductive health services, regardless of policy environment, and points to RHEDI programs as a model of full-spectrum training.
RHEDI (Reproductive Health Education in Family Medicine) was founded in 2004 to mainstream abortion training and provision within family medicine. Using a Reproductive Justice framework, the organization seeks to integrate high quality, patient-centered abortion and contraception training and services into U.S. family medicine residencies across the U.S. RHEDI also develops curricular and training tools to be used in a residency context or for self-study, conducts research on abortion training and provision within primary care, and works to diversify the family medicine abortion provider workforce by mentoring and supporting the leadership of BIPOC residents interested in abortion care. In the 19 years since its founding, RHEDI has grown from working with only a few family medicine residencies to partnering with over 34 programs and training over 2500 residents in abortion care. RHEDI graduates have gone on to found new RHEDI programs, initiate abortion provision at their workplaces, and to be active leaders in abortion training, access, research, and policy within family medicine.
