1 in 7 OB / Gyns Perform Abortions
A study of 1,031 obstetricians / gynecologists by Obstetrics & Gynecology magazine found that 1 in 7 Ob / Gyns perform abortions. This is a decrease from a study they performed in 2008, where they found 22% had performed abortions. People on both sides of the issue have some issue with the statistics, so check out the entire article. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Researchers asked 1,800 ob/gyns aged 65 or younger whether or not they provided abortion services and/or had patients requesting such services. Of the 1,031 responses tallied, 97 percent of physicians said patients had come to them seeking abortions, and just 14 percent — about one in seven — said they offered such services.Female ob/gyns were more likely than males to provide abortions, the survey showed. Younger ob/gyns, those from the Northeast, West and other densely populated urban areas, along with Jewish physicians, were also more likely to provide abortion services.Ob/gyns who were among the least likely to provide abortion services included doctors located in rural communities in the South and Southwest, as well as Catholics, evangelical Protestants and other highly religious physicians, the survey showed.Access to abortion remains limited by the willingness of physicians to provide abortion services, particularly in rural communities in the South and Midwest, concluded the study authors, led by Dr. Debra B. Stulberg, an assistant professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Chicago.Southern doctors accounted for more than one-third of the respondents; just 8 percent reported providing abortions.
I think that this study is seriously limited by the fact that they only surveyed ob/gyns under the age of 65. The "greying" of abortion providers has been observed for a long time; in many places, the local abortionist is very elderly (and almost always male).
Why did they limit it to under the age of 65?