Why we can't ignore the growing threat of well-funded abortion training programs

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this guest post are solely those of the author.

As pro-life advocates celebrate hard-won victories in closing Planned Parenthood clinics across the country, a far more insidious threat has been quietly expanding under our noses.

Ignore the threat and lose the fight

The Kenneth J. Ryan Residency Training Program in Abortion and Family Planning—better known as the Ryan Program—has grown into a nationwide network that trains thousands of doctors in abortion procedures, legitimizes the practice as “health care,” and embeds pro-abortion ideology deep within America’s medical establishment.

If we continue to focus solely on defunding Planned Parenthood while ignoring this academic powerhouse, we risk losing the long-term fight. It’s time for pro-life organizations to investigate, expose, and combat the Ryan Program at the university level.

The Ryan Program was founded in 1999 by Dr. Uta Landy and Dr. Philip Darney at the University of California, San Francisco. Since then, that single initiative has grown exponentially:

• It has ballooned to over 100 active programs in 37 states.

• These programs represent about 38% of all obstetrics and gynecology (ob-gyn) residency programs in the U.S. 

• It now reaches 121 universities nationwide, with its rapid expansion largely unopposed since 2015.

• It has trained more than 7,000 residents in abortion techniques, including first- and second-trimester procedures, over the past two decades.

• Around 40% of these trainees intend to provide abortion care after residency, with many integrating it into routine practice, according to program evaluations.

This isn’t just education—it’s indoctrination, turning medical schools into factories for abortion providers.

Propping up Big Abortion

These programs don’t operate in isolation. They forge partnerships with independent clinics, often providing low-cost or subsidized abortions while training residents. For example:

• The University of Cincinnati, a Ryan Program site, has a dedicated family planning section and openly aligns with Planned Parenthood affiliates through student groups and advocacy. 

• In New Mexico, where the University of New Mexico hosts a Ryan Program, residents receive extensive training in contraception and abortion, and the state has contracts with clinics like Planned Parenthood for services. 

I’ve personally reviewed contracts in New Mexico involving university residents training at independent clinics run by providers like Curtis Boyd, MD, PC, and Planned Parenthood, where trainees perform abortions as part of their education.

These arrangements allow universities to supply clinics with a steady stream of trained hands, sustaining the abortion industry even as standalone facilities face pressure.

Shifting money toward abortion training

While pro-life efforts have successfully shuttered some Planned Parenthood locations, the Ryan Program ensures the abortion pipeline remains open.

Michigan is a prime example: In recent years, four Planned Parenthood clinics in the state closed due to funding cuts and operational challenges. Yet around the same time, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation— a major funder of abortion access—poured over $45 million into the University of Michigan, which hosts a Ryan Program. 

The Buffett Foundation, known for donating billions to reproductive health and abortion causes, could have easily redirected a fraction of that to prop up the clinics. 

Instead, priorities have shifted to academia, where abortion is rebranded as essential health care.

Why save a few clinics when you can embed the practice in prestigious universities, training the next generation of providers?

A self-reinforcing cycle leading to 'infestation'

The academic legitimization of abortion through Ryan Programs extends far beyond training.

Residents learn protocols in an expanding network of university-based providers, and then:

• They secure grants from foundations, professional societies, and even government sources to produce research favoring abortion access. 

• Pro-abortion studies are peer-reviewed by sympathetic professors within the network, overwhelming pro-life research from institutions like the Charlotte Lozier Institute or the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

• If they can’t block pro-life studies, they flood the field with counter-narratives, drowning out evidence of abortion’s harms.

This creates a self-reinforcing cycle.

Ryan-affiliated professors are eager advocates, testifying at legislative hearings, serving as court experts, and penning op-eds in support of pro-abortion bills and amendments. 

They’ve even influenced the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to mandate access to abortion training in ob-gyn residencies since 1996, though residents can opt out for moral reasons. 

This requirement has normalized abortion in medical education, allowing programs to “infest” local medical societies and shift community standards toward viewing it as routine care.

The long-term dangers

The long-term dangers are already manifesting.

Since 2003, Ryan Programs have quietly added mifepristone—the abortion pill—to public university hospital formularies.

A paper by Ryan-affiliated professor Dr. Eve Espey, titled “You Can’t Do That ‘Round Here,” detailed introducing medical abortion at a university hospital two decades ago, and it took pro-life groups years to mount a response. 

Now, we’re seeing states like New Mexico, under Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, announce state-run “reproductive health” clinics that include abortion services, often in partnership with universities. If unchecked, this model could spread, using taxpayer dollars to fund government-backed abortion hubs.

We must bring the fight to where the power lies

Pro-life organizations must pivot.

Start by investigating local Ryan Programs—map their spread, expose their partnerships with clinics, and highlight how they use public funds for abortion training. This will energize your base: A majority of Americans oppose taxpayer funding for abortions.

Rally local leaders to contact state legislators and governors, pushing for laws that limit university authority in abortion education and reduce funding to these programs.

We’ve started to close Planned Parenthood doors; now let’s bring the fight to the ivory towers where the real power lies. Ignoring the Ryan Program isn’t just shortsighted—it’s a recipe for defeat.