Medical Residency Applications Plummet in States With Strict Abortion Bans, Kentucky Hit Hardest

IN CINCINNATI – A new study found that medical school graduates are not going to certain states for their training because they have laws that make abortion illegal or hard to get.

Dr. Atul Grover, executive director of the American Association of Medical Colleges Research and Action Institute, said, “We saw big drops in states where abortion had been illegal over the last two years, but overall the number of people applying to residencies went up a little bit.”

Grover said that the biggest drops were seen in the states with the strictest laws against abortion.

Based on the study, Kentucky lost the most applicants—more than 15% since the Dobbs ruling. The state of Indiana is down over 9%. Both states don’t allow any kind of abortion.

Ohio is down almost 7.5%, but is one of the states with the fewest limits on abortion.

Grover said that about half of the doctors who do an internship in a state stay there after they finish.

“If people are tending to avoid residency training in some of these states that means they are less likely to eventually practice there as well,” he said.

There may not be as many doctors in these states in the long run, which is a worry. Not just OB/GYN specialties are going down; all specialties are going down.

Grover said that a lot of the grads are in their late 20s or early 30s, want to start a family, and are worried about birth control.