They may have the back-alley image to shake. But one of the biggest flaws in this proposal is the assumption that if we add more people to the pool of those legally qualified to do abortions, we will in fact have more people willing to do them. The fight against informed consent legislation is a prime example, and the counselors who get paid for every abortion they sell is another. This has increased a sense of moving away from professionalism. It has also made it seem to some women to be more like a commodity rather than medical care.
Women treating the procedure like a commodity is one of the things doctors are finding frustrating.
Thus, bringing in non-physicians may actually increase the dynamic that is discouraging physicians from keeping at it, without really bringing in enough people to make up for it. The nurse practitioners that are being proposed as alternative abortion providers are primarily women, while current abortion providers are primarily men. The idea that work that men are becoming unwilling to do should be sloughed off on women is causing discomfort to many. But the question of whether this is workable also needs to be asked. No one has figures for what percentage of abortion doctors are female, but various samplings show that the portion is well less than that.