New York City next month will become the first U.S. city to include abortion training as a standard element of OB/GYN residency programs, and abortion-rights proponents such as the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League are hoping to duplicate the initiative in cities within the other 17 states that provide Medicaid-financed abortions, the New York Times reports (Villarosa, New York Times, 6/11). The plan, which was originally proposed by the New York chapter of NARAL and endorsed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R), will require that all OB/GYN residents at the city's 11 public hospitals be trained to provide abortion services, including the administration of mifepristone for medical abortion (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 5/28). OB/GYN residents at New York City hospitals will be able to "opt out" of the abortion training if they have moral objections to abortion (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 2/15). Because one out of every seven U.S. physicians completes a residency in a New York City hospital, abortion-rights advocates are optimistic that the implementation of the standard training program will "reverse a downturn" in the number of physicians nationwide who are both trained in administering and willing to provide abortions.

Beyond the Big Apple
Routine abortion training among OB/GYN residents is "on the rise" outside of New York City as well, according to the Times. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in 1996 required all OB/GYN residency programs to offer family planning and abortion training for residents at least on an elective basis. According to a 2000 National Abortion Federation survey, 46% of OB/GYN residency programs reported providing first trimester abortion training to residents in 1998, compared to only 12% in 1992. In addition, 44% of OB/GYN residency programs reported providing routine training for second trimester abortions in 1998, compared to only 7% in 1992. "There is no question that many more residents have been trained to provide abortion since the changes in 1996," Dr. Frank Ling, professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, said, adding, "Abortion training is now nationally accepted. It is mainstream where it had previously been marginalized" (New York Times, 6/11).