 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Carole Joffe, PhD, UCD Sociology, UCSF Center for Reproductive Health Research & Policy, University of California, Davis and San Francisco, UCSF Box 0744, 3333 California St., Ste 335, San Francisco, CA 94143-0744, 415-502-8241, joffec@obgyn.ucsf.edu
This paper reviews the longstanding crisis in the number of abortion providers in the United States (currently some 87% of U.S. counties are without an abortion providing facility), locating this problem both in the failures of mainstream medicine and in the successes of the antiabortion movement. Also included is a discussion of various strategies to overcome this shortage and data from an ongoing study of "new" abortion providers. Providers in this study have entered this field via "medical" abortion (mifepristone, aka RU-486). The paper includes results from qualitative interviews with new providers addressing their motivations to provide abortion, the bureaucratic obstacles facing those who attempt to integrate abortion provision into a primary care practice, and how these obstacles are being overcome. Also included is discussion on how the new abortion provider copes with the reactions of patients, colleagues, family, friends and community members to his/her decision to provide abortion.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Abortion, Health Care Workers
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.