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According to our new survey by @ANSIRH @acog @IbisRH & @CPMCinSF, while more OB/GYNs are providing abortions than a decade ago, 72% had a patient who wanted an abortion in the past year, however only 24% were willing and able to provide it.
latimes.com/science/scienc…
latimes.com/science/scienc…
Our survey also asked which abortion methods OB/GYNs offer. Fewer OB/GYNs offered medication abortion, and this is likely due to the FDA regulations requiring clinicians to dispense medication abortion in their clinics. journals.lww.com/greenjournal/A…
In our survey, OB/GYNs said the would provide medication abortion if the FDA would allow them to provide it via prescription. At the moment, mifepristone (medication abortion) can only be dispensed at a hospital, clinic, or doctor's office, and not via prescription at a pharmacy.
We also surveyed reasons why OB/GYNs who had patients seeking abortion did not offer the abortion pill. The most common reasons given for not providing medication abortion were personal beliefs against abortion (34%), practice restrictions (19%), and office staff attitudes (16%).
Our survey found more OB/GYNs are providing abortion services compared to 10 years ago, perhaps because of routine training incorporated into residency training. But geographic disparities persist, and important obstacles to provision remain—particularly for medication abortion.
It is time for the FDA to remove the dispensing restrictions on mifepristone, which are not medically necessary and limit the number of physicians offering the abortion pill. Patients should be able to get the medication abortion pill at the pharmacy like other medication.
Abortions must to be provided in a timely manner, and patients should be able to obtain care from their regular OB/GYN. Our field must do a better job of training physicians and removing unnecessary practice and policy restrictions limiting the provision of critical health care.
You can read the survey, authored by Kate Grindlay, Dr. Anna Altshuler, and Dr. Jay Schulkin, and I, in @greenjrnl: journals.lww.com/greenjournal/A…
