GOOD NEWS for the unborn: Fewer doctors providing abortions

In a rare bit of good news for the unborn, fewer doctors are performing abortions. A survey of 1,144 obstetricians and gynecologists shows that only 14 percent provide abortions, down from an earlier estimate of 22 percent. The results are published in the current issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The survey was conducted by Dr. Debra Stulberg and her colleagues at the University of Chicago. The survey suggests that access to abortions rests largely on how willing doctors are to perform the procedures.  Doctors who are unwilling to perform the procedures for moral and religious reasons are also less likely to refer patients to doctors who would perform the procedures. 

In the US, half of all pregnancies are "unintended" (by the parents) and half of those children are terminated by abortion. The most reluctant doctors to provide abortions are found in the South and Midwest, suggesting that more doctors in those regions realize moral conflict with the provision of abortions on demand. 

Other factors may be a reduction in training for doctors to provide abortions. Until 1996, abortion training was required for all ob/gyns, but that is no longer the case.

The survey was conducted by mail and ob/gyns 1,800 were sampled. 1,144 responded. Doctors were asked if they encountered patients seeking abortions and if they practiced abortions or referred the patients elsewhere. According to the results, 97 percent said they had requests, but a low percentage, 14.4 percent replied that they actually provided them. 

One troubling statistic did appear. Of all the doctors, the young doctors (under age 35) were more likely to provide the services than older physicians. Other notable findings include, urban doctors were much more likely than rural physicians to provide abortions, likely out of concern for being taken to task by anti-abortion protestors. Jewish doctors were also more likely to perform abortions, with Catholics and Evangelical Protestants least likely to do so. 

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