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Then in September 2021, Senate Bill 8 restricted abortions to the period before fetal cardiac activity can be detected (around five or six weeks gestational age), effectively banning most elective abortions. Surgical abortions are legal if the mother’s life is at risk or if cardiac activity can no longer be detected. This all but eliminated the ability for medical residents to learn how to perform abortions during routine procedures.

“Medical school education around abortion and contraception has been woefully inadequate in our state for quite a while,” Moayedi said. Medical schools (as opposed to OB-GYN residency programs) are not required to provide abortion training, but some students seek out extracurricular instruction. In a popular workshop run by Medical Students for Choice, OB-GYN residents use papayas to demonstrate how to use abortion tools.
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