Press Release: 5/28/2025

AG Campbell Leads Multistate Effort To Protect Abortion Providers From Board Certification Requirements That Could Put Them At Risk

 

Attorneys General Call on AMA to Ensure Reproductive Health Care and Gender-Affirming Care Providers Can Get Board-Certified Without Unnecessary Risk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

5/27/2025

MEDIA CONTACT

Sydney Heiberger, Press Secretary

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Call Sydney Heiberger, Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543

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Email Sydney Heiberger, Press Secretary at Sydney.Heiberger@mass.gov

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today co-led a coalition of 19 other attorneys general in urging the American Medical Association (AMA) to take stronger action to protect health care providers from requirements that providers travel to states with legal restrictions on abortion and gender-affirming care to sit in person for medical board certification examinations. In testimony submitted to AMA, the coalition argues that requiring abortion and gender-affirming care providers to travel to states that restrict those forms of care in order to get board-certified puts them in legal and physical risk. The attorneys general warn that mandating in-person testing in states that have aggressively criminalized or penalized reproductive and gender-affirming health care endangers providers and threatens access to essential care nationwide.

“As threats against providers of abortion and gender affirming care continue to escalate, it is incumbent upon all of us to double down on our efforts to champion, defend and protect the medical professionals who provide this essential health care,” said AG Campbell. “I applaud the American Medical Association for taking on this important issue and urge them to act with urgency to support providers who need to take their exams remotely when the alternative would pose a legitimate legal, health, or safety risk.”

Earlier this year, AMA acknowledged the risks posed to health care providers by state laws that restrict abortion and gender-affirming care, adopting a policy encouraging medical boards to provide alternative testing options in states with such restrictions. However, AG Campbell and the coalition assert that AMA’s current stance does not go far enough to protect examinees, as it fails to provide policy guidance to the specialty boards on concrete steps they should take to protect candidates. The attorneys general call for AMA to go further by recommending such steps, including:

• Relocating testing sites to non-restrictive states;


• Shifting to remote testing to eliminate the need for travel to hostile environments; or


• Granting individual exemptions from in-person exams in restrictive states for those facing heightened legal or physical risks. 

The coalition warns that mandating in-person board certification testing in states that penalize these forms of health care could have far-reaching and harmful consequences. In particular, the attorneys general highlight the American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ABOG), which requires OB/GYNs seeking board certification to travel to Texas for in-person testing. Texas has implemented some of the most severe anti-abortion and anti-transgender legislation in the country. Despite these restrictions, ABOG continues to require in-person certification exams for all obstetricians and gynecologists in Texas, even though ABOG was able to administer the same exams remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The attorneys general assert that ABOG’s refusal to provide accommodations for candidates who fear prosecution or physical harm in Texas places providers at needless risk.

The coalition’s testimony highlights the increasingly hostile legal landscape for health care providers in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Following the decision, several states implemented draconian restrictions on abortion and have since taken steps to criminalize patients and providers. Many of the same states have followed by passing a wave of restrictions on gender-affirming care. The attorneys general argue that officials in these anti-abortion states have made it clear their goal is to intimidate and punish reproductive health and gender-affirming care providers, no matter where the care was provided.

Joining AG Campbell in submitting this testimony, which she co-led with New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.