Our own Emily Bazelon has a fantastic piece in this Sunday’s upcoming New York Times Magazine about how doctors are trying to bring abortion back to mainstream hospitals, as the procedure is currently mostly done in standalone clinics. One way they’re accomplishing this is through the creation of abortion-training programs for OB-GYN residents. For instance, the Kenneth J. Ryan Residency Training Program has given 58 medical school campuses financing, and the money for this program reportedly comes from a pretty famous source: Warren Buffett, via the Susan Thomas Buffett Foundation.
According to Emily:
Warren Buffett and served as president of the foundation that bears her name. She died in 2004. Two years later, Warren Buffett gave the foundation about $3 billion. He said that he expected the gift to increase the foundation’s annual expenditures by $150 million. And in fact, total giving by the foundation, where two of the Buffetts’ children sit on the board, increased from $202 million in 2007 to $347 million in 2008, according to tax returns.
It’s great to see that Buffett’s impressive philanthropic spirit is helping to ensure that a procedure one-third of women end up undergoing remains accessible.
Photograph of Warren Buffett by Mario Tama/Getty Images.
