University of Illinois Cancer Center member Shikha Jain, MD, is among the authors of a survey study that found most physicians and trainees preferred to apply to practice and train in states without bans or restrictions on abortion and without legal consequences for abortion providers.
U.S. medical students, international medical graduates, residents, fellows and practicing physicians were among the 2,063 survey respondents who were recruited via social media communities for the study published February 23 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
“Our data highlight that even if a fraction of the many physicians and trainees with strong geographic preferences to avoid practicing in states that ban abortion follow through on their preferences, states that ban abortion are at risk for exacerbating these existing physician shortages, and worsening health outcomes for their citizens,” the study concluded.
Jain, a medical oncologist at UI Health, is part of the Cancer Center’s Translational Oncology research program. The other study authors are from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.