Study: OB-GYNs didn’t leave states with pro-life laws after ‘Dobbs’

OB-GYNs did not leave states with pro-life laws after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, despite claims to the contrary, a recent study found.

In fact, pro-life states saw increases in OB-GYNs, rather than decreases, The College Fix reported on the study. Published in JAMA Network Open, the study found that OB-GYNs increased by 8.3% in states where life is protected, 10.5% in states that lean pro-life, and only 7.7% in states where abortions are legal. 

The study also found that the percentage of those choosing to become OB-GYNs as a career has not decreased since Dobbs v. Jackson returned the issue of abortion to individual states.

The College Fix reported that the findings contradict certain claims that pro-life laws would drive OB-GYNs out of state and leave pregnant women without any resources.

“As more clinicians leave those states, as more maternity care deserts happen, we will see poorer outcomes,” Dr. Stella Dantas, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), told Mother Jones in May 2024. 

The same Mother Jones article reported that 64% of practicing OB-GYNs who responded to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey said that the Dobbs ruling worsened maternal mortality. However, studies have shown that the maternal mortality rate actually fell the year after several states passed pro-life legislation.

The College Fix also reported that Dr. Verda Hicks, the former president of the ACOG, claimed in 2023 that OB-GYNs would get burnt out from being “prevented from providing the expert care that they are trained to provide.”

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