Providing Abortion Education in the United States: Progress and Pitfalls

Abortion has been legal since the 1973 United States Supreme Court decision in Roe versus Wade. Since 1973, there have been nearly 53 million abortions performed, with 1.06 million abortions in 2011 [1]. In 2011, the abortion rate was the lowest since 1973, with 16.9 abortions per 1000 women age 15- 44 years [2]. Although the abortion rate had declined, the unintended pregnancy rate remained constant at 50% and almost half of these pregnancies resulted in abortion [3]. There has been a consistent demand for abortion services; however, the number of U.S. abortion providers declined 4% between 2008 (1,793) and 2011 (1,720) [1]. Studies have shown that physician intent to provide abortions prior to residency training and sufficient abortion training in residency are positively associated with future abortion provisions after residency [4-6]. Abortion education in medical school and abortion training in residency are thus essential to continued access to safe abortion services for women. This article will provide a brief history and update of the current state of U.S. abortion education, focusing specifically on education and training of physicians.