A patchwork of state laws in the aftermath of a Supreme Court decision overturning the right to an abortion, combined with pandemic-related burnout and low reimbursement rates, could exacerbate an already looming national shortage of obstetrician-gynecologists, experts say.
Medical students say that given the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning Roe v. Wade, they must consider a landscape of rapidly changing abortion legislation, with litigation often making it difficult to determine what is legal where.
Typically “physicians do not go to medical school and go into the practice of medicine because we enjoy interfacing with the legal profession,” said Katie McHugh, an Indiana-based obstetrician-gynecologist and board member with Physicians for Reproductive Health.
