Abortion Bill Could Shutter Arizona OB-GYN Program

The Arizona State Senate is considering two bills that would further limit abortions, including one that could force the University of Arizona to shut down its obstetrics and gynecology program. HB 2384 includes a ban on using state funding or tuition money for abortion training at state universities and community colleges. One Democratic state representative, who is also a hospital doctor, explained that if the University of Arizona is no longer allowed to teach abortion procedures, the OB-GYN program would lose its accreditation.

“Two hundred residents who are currently actively training will actually have to leave,” he tells Cronkite News Service. “Their training will be forfeited and it will be like the program never existed.” (Jezebel explains that abortion training is required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.) The state House also approved a bill that would require doctors to perform an ultrasound before an abortion, pointing out the fetus and offering the woman a chance to listen to its heartbeat. Both bills head to the state Senate. (More Arizona stories.)