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Chapter 14 - The Importance of Including Abortion in Undergraduate Medical Education

from Section II - Integration of Abortion into Graduate Medical Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2021

By
Jody Steinauer  and
Teresa DePiñeres
Edited by
Uta Landy ,
Philip D Darney  and
Jody Steinauer
Uta Landy
Affiliation:
University of California, San Francisco
Philip D Darney
Affiliation:
University of California, San Francisco
Jody Steinauer
Affiliation:
University of California, San Francisco
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Summary

Medical educators have a responsibility to train medical students in the competencies needed to improve the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of their communities.Abortion is not only a core component of SRH care it is also common with 56 million annually worldwide. While abortion is very safe when provided by trained clinicians, almost half (45%) of abortions are practiced under unsafe conditions leading to an estimated 7 million complications and accounting for 8% of maternal deaths each year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), unsafe abortion can be prevented by giving women access to legal abortion by trained, competent practitioners and timely emergency treatment of complications. Significant barriers to implementing abortion laws in these settings are the lack of properly trained health personnel and lack of abortion training in medical schools.This chapter begins with an overview of medical education standards and their relevance for sexual and reproductive health. It then reviews the literature about medical student education about abortion and includes a sample of regional and national organizational recommendations. It finally describes opportunities for inclusion of abortion in medical education, using the educational objective standards set by the World Federation of Medical Education.

Keywords

post-abortion careabortion policy
Type
Chapter
Information
Advancing Women's Health Through Medical Education
A Systems Approach in Family Planning and Abortion
 , pp. 143 - 150
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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