The number of applications for medical school from women in the US has grown more slowly in states that have introduced restrictions on abortion, according to a new study that warns political decisions can “meaningfully reshape who practices medicine, and where”.
After the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy in 2022, there was an “overall increase” in the proportion of women applying to study medicine, rising nationally by 4.07 percentage points or an additional 498 candidates a year, research published on 3 June in the journal PLOS Global Public Health found.
But that growth was “significantly attenuated” in areas with more restrictive approaches to abortion, resulting in approximately 71 fewer female applicants each year than the trend would otherwise suggest.
Researchers Jade Gilchrist, of Western University in London, Ontario; Alexandra C. Istl of the Medical College of Wisconsin; and Amrit Kirpalani, of the London Health Sciences Centre, also in Ontario, analysed the gender composition of applicants and those who formally enrolled in medical school in the US between 2018 and 2025, using figures from the Association of American Medical Colleges.
