Abortion Education in U.S. Medical Schools: Curricular Variability by State Law

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Reproductive Health
• Public Health Policy

Background:

• Reproductive health, encompassing abortion care, is a vital part of undergraduate medical education (UME) but is inconsistently integrated.
• The inclusion of abortion and contraception topics in UME curricula varies significantly across institutions and states.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the association between the inclusion of abortion and contraception in UME curricula and state-level abortion restrictions.
• To assess the current state of reproductive health education within U.S. medical schools.

Main Methods:

• A national cross-sectional survey of medical students from 101 U.S. medical schools (53% response rate) was conducted.
• Data collected included the presence of abortion, contraception, options counseling, and values clarification in preclinical and clinical curricula.
• State abortion laws were categorized, and logistic regression analyzed the association between laws and curricular content.

Main Results:

• Preclinical curricula covered abortion (63.4%), contraception (82.2%), options counseling (52.5%), and values clarification (47.5%).
• Clinical curricula covered abortion (53.5%), contraception (61.4%), options counseling (56.4%), and values clarification (44.6%).
• Schools in unrestricted states were more likely to include clinical abortion education (OR: 2.83) and values clarification (OR: 2.98) compared to those in banned states; no association was found for preclinical curricula.

Conclusions:

• Reproductive health topic inclusion in UME remains limited.
• Clinical abortion education is significantly reduced in states with abortion bans.
• Ensuring comprehensive contraception and abortion education in all medical schools is crucial for a competent healthcare workforce.