Abortion training program violates federal law, says legal group

Last year, a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate to protect medical residents from being coerced into committing abortions as part of their training. Now, in a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office for Civil Rights, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) calls for an investigation into whether the "federally-funded" Reproductive Health Education in Family Medicine (RHEDI) program is "violating federal conscience protections by compelling residents to train in abortions and promote gender ideology."

Key Takeaways:

• The RHEDI family medicine residency program requires those studying to be family medicine practitioners to be trained to commit abortions.

• The program allows for opt-outs, but opting out isn't allowed if the reasons for opting out are deemed “unacceptable.”

• The program has certified 39 family medicine residency programs and has ten affiliate programs as of this year.

• Alliance Defending Freedom has sent a letter to the federal government showing that the residency program breaks federal laws regarding conscience protections and illegally uses coercive tactics to force family medicine residents to integrate killing into their medical training illegally.

The Details:

What is RHEDI?

The abortion training website TEACH (Training in Early Abortion for Comprehensive Healthcare) states that "RHEDI programs are family medicine residency programs which have integrated reproductive health education and training, including contraception and abortion" which "incorporate a reproductive justice framework in their approach to teaching, and have dedicated faculty to support residents interested in family planning,"

TEACH has an abortion training workbook which is published by the University of California San Francisco's (USCF) Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. UCSF/Bixby operates Ryan Residency abortion training programs nationwide. The UC system has been dubbed the 'nerve center of the abortion industry' and receives billions from American taxpayers and pro-abortion philanthropists like the Buffett Foundation.

"As of 2026, RHEDI has certified 39 family medicine residency programs and has ten affiliate programs," ADF's letter claimed, adding:

To become certified, programs must demonstrate faculty-level abortion expertise, leadership endorsement for abortion training, and structural support for residents seeking abortion related career placement. RHEDI’s requirements expressly mandate incorporation of abortion within the broader family medicine curriculum, while embedding a “reproductive justice framework” as the guiding pedagogical principle.

RHEDI's website claims it is "[w]orking to mainstream abortion care in family medicine since 2004" with the goal of combining the practice of abortion with family medicine.

RHEDI "envisions a world where full-spectrum sexual and reproductive health care (including contraception, abortion, and all stages of pregnancy care) are offered by family physicians as part of routine care, and every person can receive this care in a just and equitable manner without barriers."

Residents cannot 'opt-out'

But not every medical student entering the field of family medicine wants to kill as part of their routine practice. ADF's letter notes (emphasis added):

ADF identifies 49 federally funded medical residency programs certified by or affiliated with RHEDI. These programs embed and maintain discriminatory practices in violation of federal conscience protection laws.

These violations arise from RHEDI’s “fully integrated” abortion curriculum in family medicine residency education. Full integration means residents desiring to practice family medicine face mandatory participation in abortion training and procedures.

"The RHEDI program requires that abortion instruction be integrated across clinical and didactic settings and explicitly states that 'residents cannot opt out of didactics on abortion'," ADF"s letter claimed.

"Where abortion is fully integrated into a program, a resident cannot expect to complete a family medicine residency without being required to be involved in abortion," wrote ADF (emphasis added).

Quite simply, ADF says this requirement "violate[s] federal nondiscrimination and conscience protection laws," calling it "impermissible for an HHS-funded family medicine program" to require this of students regardless of their beliefs. ADF adds:

RHEDI admits that when it says “opt out,” it does not mean the requirement to totally honor objections imposed by federal conscience laws. Instead RHEDI and TEACH specify that the opt-outs elsewhere referenced in their programs are not available to residents if objections are based on reasons TEACH asserts are “unacceptable.”

"These 'exceptions' to opt-outs render the opt-out language in RHEDI materials functionally meaningless," ADF noted.

Why It Matters:

Violating federal conscience laws

ADF pointed out that "a network of federally funded family medicine residency programs... appear to operate in violation of federal conscience protection statutes and possibly the Hyde Amendment, by compelling residents to train in abortions...."

ADF urges HHS to investigate these residency programs associated with RHEDI due to the fact that it "explicitly requires the full integration of abortion training into family medicine residency programs."

"Congress has granted the Department the authority to enforce these conscience laws," the letter stated, adding:

... Despite the longstanding federal healthcare conscience laws, a growing number of federally-funded entities have embedded training policies that compel or presume participation in abortion training and procedures as a condition of medical education.

These measures, frequently described as “integrated reproductive health” or “comprehensive family planning” curricula, discriminate against residents, staff, and faculty who hold protected conscience objections....

The letter lists "academic institutions and hospital systems" that incorporate some of these residencies despite receiving some type of federal funding from HHS.

Imposing abortion through the practice of medicine

ADF wrote that several of the programs themselves advertise the full integration of abortion training in the programs," and got to the heart of the matter with this statement (emphases added):

A family medicine program is not an abortion program. It is not even an obstetrics and gynecology program.

Requiring abortion training in Ob/Gyn programs is obviously a violation of federal conscience laws, many of which were written to prevent exactly such coercion. But “fully integrating” abortion into a family medicine residency program is nothing more than an attempt to impose abortion throughout the practice of medicine generally.

Forcing doctors to train on abortions if they want to be family medicine doctors is a direct message that no doctor can be a family medicine doctor if they don’t also want to be an abortionist. It is illegal.

Federal conscience protections prohibit coercion

ADF noted that coercion is prohibited by three federal conscience laws:

• Church Amendments

• Coats-Snowe Amendment

• Weldon Amendment

ADF notes:

If an entity receives any funding under the Public Health Service Act, HRSA, GME, or NIH funds, it must ensure that conscience-protected individuals are not compelled to participate in any part of abortion training.

The letter adds, "When an institution accepts qualifying federal financial assistance, federal law requires that every part of that institution refrain from compelling abortion participation or discriminating against individuals who object to abortion on moral or religious grounds."

ADF says that "billions of federal taxpayer dollars are being improperly received by these entities" and that their funding should be paused, adding:

Family medicine should not be systematically transformed into a field that destroys babies, much less when subsidized by federal taxpayer dollars. No individual should be required to perform or train for abortion or other “reproductive justice” procedures as a condition of completing a medical residency.

The Bottom Line:

"President Trump’s health department has rightly sought to ‘enforce conscience rights and protect human life’ and now, it has a stellar opportunity to further that effort by investigating whether these health care entities are violating federal law. Not a single tax dollar should fund the harming of children—born or unborn,” stated Matt Bowman, ADF's Senior Counsel, Director of Regulatory Practice.