ABOG Reiterates Support for OB GYNs and Reproductive Health Rights

June 24, 2022

The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) continues to support access to safe and legal pregnancy termination which is essential to reproductive health and supports access to the full spectrum of reproductive health care, including abortion, across the country. ABOG stands by its statement made in September 2021 prior to the most recent opinion by the United States Supreme Court, which overrules Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey and will negatively impact access to essential women’s health care and abortion.  

Our September statement supports that, “A critical aspect of the specialty of OB GYN and patient care includes the medical knowledge, skills, and judgment relative to reproductive health rights, including access to contraception as well as to safe and legal pregnancy termination. Access to safe and legal pregnancy termination is essential to reproductive health, and it has been a legal right in the United States for the past 48 years after the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade. ABOG’s mission is to define the standards, certify OB GYNs, and facilitate continuous learning to advance knowledge, practice, and professionalism in women's health. Our commitment to these principles is firm and unwavering in support of OB GYNs who wish to provide comprehensive reproductive health care to the patients and families they serve. Patients place their trust in the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship, and they must have confidence that their OB GYNs can provide the evidence-based counseling and care that they need without intimidation, retribution, or litigation.”   

ABOG is a non-profit organization whose role is to set certification standards and provide certification examinations and maintenance of certification (MOC) programs for the OB GYN specialty and its subspecialties. ABOG assesses physicians on their medical knowledge, judgement, and skills through use of obstetric, gynecologic, and office practice-based scenarios, including comprehensive family planning, reproductive health, and abortion.   

ABOG will continue to include comprehensive family planning and abortion topics in certification standards and assessments based on data reflecting the scope of practice of OB GYNs across the nation. These evidence-based standards support the criticality and importance of comprehensive family planning, contraception, and abortion as requisite knowledge, judgment, and skills to the practice of OB GYN. ABOG certification standards require that physicians have the knowledge and ability to perform and care for patients who have had an abortion, regardless of if a physician chooses to perform one or practices in a state with restrictions.  

OB GYN specialists certified by ABOG have demonstrated the knowledge, judgment, and skills to provide comprehensive family planning, abortion services, and contraceptive care. OB GYN subspecialists certified in Complex Family Planning have advanced knowledge and skills in the areas of preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic procedures to improve reproductive health outcomes; provide leadership to advance the field; and receive referrals from OB GYN specialists, other physicians, and advanced practice clinicians. 

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