ACOG Recognizes Abortion as Healthcare
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), recognizes abortion as healthcare, an essential part of women's health. With over 57,000 members, ACOG holds the highest standards of clinical practice and continuing education for women's health physicians. Abortion care is a vital component in medical training, continuing medical education, and clinical practice.
While ACOG strives to advance education and training for ob-gyn residents within its Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology, abortion is 1) one of the vital educational objectives in the Core Curriculum in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 10th Education that establishes competency in graduate medical education (1,2); 2) a vital clinical and management service of Gynecologic Care, according to the ACOG Guidelines for Women's Health Care, A Resource Manual 4th Edition (3).; and 3) included in the 2015 Bulletin for the Oral Examination for Basic Certification in Obstetrics and Gynecology's, Gynecology. As part of these training and service components, ACOG also recognizes the importance of informing the American public on the importance of Abortion. In part, the ACOG's November2017 Statement of Policy provides the following evidenced-based clinical practice guidelines and official statement on abortion.
While ACOG strives to advance education and training for ob-gyn residents within its Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology, abortion is 1) one of the vital educational objectives in the Core Curriculum in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 10th Education that establishes competency in graduate medical education (1,2); 2) a vital clinical and management service of Gynecologic Care, according to the ACOG Guidelines for Women's Health Care, A Resource Manual 4th Edition (3).; and 3) included in the 2015 Bulletin for the Oral Examination for Basic Certification in Obstetrics and Gynecology's, Gynecology. As part of these training and service components, ACOG also recognizes the importance of informing the American public on the importance of Abortion. In part, the ACOG's November2017 Statement of Policy provides the following evidenced-based clinical practice guidelines and official statement on abortion.
ACOG supports robust, factual debate on issues of importance to the American people. We welcome the opportunity to provide expert factual information on issues related to women's health.1
Sound health policy is best based on scientific fact and evidence-based medicine. The best health care is provided free of political interference in the patient-physician relationship. Personal decision-making by women and their doctors should not be replaced by political ideology.
Many factors influence or necessitate a woman’s decision to have an abortion. They include, but are not limited to, contraceptive failure, barriers to contraceptive use and access, rape, incest, intimate partner violence, fetal anomalies, illness during pregnancy, and exposure to teratogenic medications.
Pregnancy complications, including placental abruption, bleeding from placenta previa, preeclampsia or eclampsia, and cardiac or renal conditions, may be so severe that abortion is the only measure to preserve a woman’s health or save her life.
Induced abortion is an essential component of women’s health care. Like all medical matters, decisions regarding abortion should be made by patients in consultation with their health care providers and without undue interference by outside parties. Like all patients, women obtaining abortion are entitled to privacy, dignity, respect, and support.4
Where abortion is illegal or highly restricted, women resort to unsafe means to end unwanted pregnancies, including self-inflicted abdominal and bodily trauma, ingestion of dangerous chemicals, self-medication with a variety of drugs, and reliance on unqualified abortion providers.v,vi Today, approximately 21 million women around the world obtain unsafe, illegal abortions each year, and complications from these unsafe procedures account for approximately 13% of all maternal deaths, nearly 50,000 annually.5,6
Sound health policy is best based on scientific fact and evidence-based medicine. The best health care is provided free of political interference in the patient-physician relationship. Personal decision-making by women and their doctors should not be replaced by political ideology.
Many factors influence or necessitate a woman’s decision to have an abortion. They include, but are not limited to, contraceptive failure, barriers to contraceptive use and access, rape, incest, intimate partner violence, fetal anomalies, illness during pregnancy, and exposure to teratogenic medications.
Pregnancy complications, including placental abruption, bleeding from placenta previa, preeclampsia or eclampsia, and cardiac or renal conditions, may be so severe that abortion is the only measure to preserve a woman’s health or save her life.
Induced abortion is an essential component of women’s health care. Like all medical matters, decisions regarding abortion should be made by patients in consultation with their health care providers and without undue interference by outside parties. Like all patients, women obtaining abortion are entitled to privacy, dignity, respect, and support.4
Where abortion is illegal or highly restricted, women resort to unsafe means to end unwanted pregnancies, including self-inflicted abdominal and bodily trauma, ingestion of dangerous chemicals, self-medication with a variety of drugs, and reliance on unqualified abortion providers.v,vi Today, approximately 21 million women around the world obtain unsafe, illegal abortions each year, and complications from these unsafe procedures account for approximately 13% of all maternal deaths, nearly 50,000 annually.5,6
1. Education Committee and approved by the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology (CREOG). (2020). CREOG Educational Objectives, 12th Edition. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). Retrieved June 25, 2022, from https://www.acog.org/education-and-events/creog/curriculum-resources/creog-educational-objectives
- Educational Objectives: Core Curriculum in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 10th Edition. The American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists. Washington, DC: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; 2013. - Medical residents may opt out of abortion training. “ACGME Review Committee for Obstetrics and Gynecology Clarification of
Program Requirement: IV.A.2.d” available at:
http://www.acgme.org/acgmeweb/Portals/0/PFAssets/ProgramResources/220_OBGYN_Abortion_Training_Clarification.pdf - Guidelines for Women’s Health Care, A Resource Manual, 4th Edition. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Washington, DC: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; 2014. - Abortion Policy. Statement of Policy. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Washington, DC: American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists; 2017. - World Health Organization. Unsafe abortion: global and regional estimates of the incidence of unsafe abortion and associated mortality in 2008. 6th ed. Geneva: WHO; 2011.
- Guttmacher Institute. Facts on induced abortion worldwide. New York (NY): GI; 2012.