Title: Abortions in rural Idaho: physicians' attitudes and practices.

POPLINE Document Number: 108666

Author(s):

Rosenblatt RA
Mattis R
Hart LG

Source citation:

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, 1995 Oct;85(10):1423-5.

Abstract:

94% of nonmetropolitan counties in the US have no legal medical provider willing to provide abortion services. This means that even though a woman's right to undergo a first-trimester abortion is protected by the US constitution, abortions are virtually unavailable in rural America. The considerable distances that most rural women must travel to find a provider willing to perform abortions effectively deny access to the medical procedure in many cases. All family physicians, obstetrician-gynecologists, and general surgeons practicing in rural Idaho in 1994 were surveyed to gain insight into why rural physicians are unwilling to provide abortions. Idaho is a conservative state with the second lowest abortion rate in the country. Rural physicians were defined as allopathic and osteopathic physicians working in nonmetropolitan counties and in communities of fewer than 20,000 people. A survey was sent to each of the 251 physicians identified as eligible for the study; 138 responded. 86% were family physicians, 91% male, and in practice for a mean period of fifteen years. Less than 4% of the respondents performed abortions. Most rural Idaho women seeking an abortion must therefore travel long distances for the procedure, with the average travel distance to the nearest abortion provider being 85 miles. The doctors reported having chosen to not provide abortion services because of both their own moral objections and local community opposition to the procedure. Younger, residency-trained physicians were more likely to have personal moral objections than their older colleagues. 26% of the respondents did, however, indicate interest in using RU-486 for abortions when it becomes available. This intention to use RU-486 suggests that the development of acceptable medical abortifacients may improve access to abortion even in very conservative rural areas.

Keywords:

Idaho
United States
Research Report
Abortion
Rural Population
Physicians
Attitude
Conservatism
Delivery of Health Care
Developed Countries
North America
Americas
Fertility Control, Postconception
Family Planning
Population Characteristics
Demographic Factors
Population
Health Personnel
Health
Psychological Factors
Behavior
Political Factors