Why American Medical Schools are Reluctant to Train Abortionists

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It is tempting for Christians to think that the cultural battle over elective abortion has been lost—that we should not teach and preach as often and as urgently about an issue on which so many have already sided with the devil. There are a number of reasons we must keep teaching and preaching about the tragedy of abortion: (1) We must preach against all sin to try to help people come to repentance, even when the majority are lost (Matthew 7:13; 1 Timothy 2:4; Jude 22-23). (2) Legalized abortion still occurs, and so inherently valuable lives are still being forfeited. Any possibility of changing this reality depends on Christians and like-minded individuals protesting kindly and peacefully. (3) New generations of thoughtful Americans are making up their minds about abortion.

And finally, a fourth reason to keep teaching and preaching about abortion: The biblical principle of the sanctity of pre-born life is not as lost on our culture as we might sometimes think. For example, this week The Atlantic on-line magazine published an article with the following title: “The Scarcity of Abortion Training in America’s Medical Schools” (http://theatln.tc/1JIewoO; cf. Albert Mohler, http://bit.ly/1S855jT). The article is by Mara Gordon, who went into medical school in order to become an abortion provider, and “to increase abortion access in the U.S.” In Gordon’s own experience in school, in talking with many in her profession, and in reviewing studies on the content of medical training in America, she has found that abortion training occurs far less than pro-choice advocates would like. In short, Gordon reports that there is a “stigma” attached to performing abortion.

The University of Arizona College of Medicine, for example, banned abortions at its facilities in the 1970s. . . . The state Supreme Court upheld the decision in 1976, and elective abortions in public university-affiliated hospitals are still illegal in Arizona. (Several other states, including Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas, also have laws in place that restrict or ban abortions in publicly funded institutions, including state universities.)

And most doctors are reluctant to perform abortions. In 2011, Reuters reported in a survey of 1,144 ob-gyns that “while 97 percent said they’d had patients who sought abortions, only 14 percent ever provided them” (http://reut.rs/1KZYMKY).

Why is the medical profession more pro-life than pro-choice? Why do doctors still attach a stigma to abortion? Because they understand that their God-given role is to protect and enhance life instead of destroying it.

Deuteronomy 30:19. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live (emp. added). . . .

Proverbs 6:16-17. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood (emp. added). . . .

It is very hard for the pro-death movement to convince good and honest doctors otherwise.