Yes, I believe that a part of the OB-GYN curriculum is about abortion. AT least in the programs I am familiar with. There are times (I cannot tell you how many or what percentage) that a woman's life is in jeopardy and aborting the fetus is the only way to save the mother. The fetus wouldn't survive without the mother being alive. I know 2 OB-GYNs personally and both have aborted fetuses to protect the mothers life. Both are pro-life. (In both cases the mother suffered from HELLP, which can cause severe kidney damage, hypertension and greatly increases the likelyhood of a stroke)
The responsible and moral thing to do in such situations is to attempt to save both patients while not attempting to kill either.
The "for the life of the mother" justification is totally specious. If your wife and I were being held at gunpoint by a murderer, and he said that either we will both die at his hands, or I can shoot your wife and he will spare me, could I legally and morally shoot your wife to save my own skin?
Obviously not.
So why do so many think its just fine for a mother to kill her child to save her own neck?
I'm not a doctor, but your mention of HELLP syndrome (which I'd never heard of, though I have heard of eclampsia) prompted me to look that up.
I found it interesting that on at least this website, the word "abortion" is not mentioned anywhere as a therapeutic measure to be taken for HELLP. Only "delivery" is recommended for worsening cases when treatment has failed. (See especially the flowchart outlining therapeutic measures about halfway down the page.)
(Obviously a child delivered before 22 weeks gestation or so would likely die. But that would not be called an abortion, would it?)
I wonder if this same website might have recommended abortion, say maybe 20 years ago. I.e., is it possible the pro-life movement has been successful enough in re-stigmatizing abortion, that now at least some mainstream websites refrain from recommending it?
Also, how likely is HELLP to occur before the third trimester, when the baby is likely to survive if delivered? (According to the site, HELLP occurs in only about 0.2 to 0.6 percent of all pregnancies.)