Dobbs Decision Has Negatively Impacted Access to OB/GYN Practitioners

FRIDAY, March 14, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The Dobbs v Jackson Women”s Health Organization (Dobbs) decision was associated with a moderate but significant relative reduction in obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) practitioners in states that adopted restrictive abortion laws compared with states that enacted abortion laws before the decision, according to a study published online March 10 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Jane M. Zhu, M.D., from the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, and colleagues examined whether OB/GYN practitioner supply changed in states that adopted restrictive abortion laws after the Dobbs decision compared with control states (those that enacted abortion laws before the decision), focusing on 12 and 14 states, respectively. A difference-in-differences approach was used to compare changes in practitioner supply from December 2018 to December 2021 (pre-Dobbs decision) to December 2022 to July 2024 (post-Dobbs decision) in states with the most restrictive laws versus control states.

The researchers found that OB/GYN practitioner supply patterns were similar between the 12 most restrictive and 14 control states before the Dobbs decision. Across all states, practitioner supply increased overall, but after the ruling, significant decreases in OB/GYN practitioners were noted. The most restrictive states had a 4.2 percent decrease in practitioners per 100,000 reproductive-aged females compared with the control group, with findings robust to sensitivity analyses.

“Findings provide early confirmation of reports that clinicians have migrated from states most impacted by the Dobbs decision,” the authors write. “Clinician migration has implications for reproductive care access, quality, and equity as abortion rights are increasingly decided at the state level.”

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