Innovative models are needed for equitable abortion access in the USA
Authors: Ushma D Upadhyay
Journal: The Lancet Public Health (2017)

Where an individual lives can have a strong effect on their health and wellbeing. Women living in rural settings or small towns experience poorer health outcomes and have less access to health care than women living in urban settings.1AnonACOG Committee Opinion No. 586: Health disparities in rural women.Obstet Gynecol. 2014; 123: 384-388Crossref PubMed Scopus (26) Google Scholar They are also more likely to experience poverty. In The Lancet Public Health, Jonathan Bearak and colleagues2Bearak JM Burke KL Jones RK Disparities and change over time in distance needed to travel to access an abortion in the USA: a spatial analysis.Lancet Public Health. 2017; (published online Oct 3.)http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(17)30158-5Google Scholar show that women in the USA experience substantial differences in access to abortion care based on their census tract, with 20% of women having to travel at least 43 miles (69 km) in most states in 2014. Poor access exacerbates inequities—increased travel distance means increased costs for transport, overnight stay, lost wages from time off work, and childcare. For a woman who is economically disadvantaged, having to travel a long distance could put an abortion out of reach, leading her to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. This study2Bearak JM Burke KL Jones RK Disparities and change over time in distance needed to travel to access an abortion in the USA: a spatial analysis.Lancet Public Health. 2017; (published online Oct 3.)http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(17)30158-5Google Scholar tells only part of the story, showing the median and 80th percentile distances women must travel to reach a dedicated abortion clinic. But for women seeking specific types of providers, such as those who accept Medicaid,3Johns NE Foster DG Upadhyay UD Distance traveled for Medicaid-covered abortion care in California.BMC Health Serv Res. 2017; 17: 287Crossref PubMed Scopus (18) Google Scholar do abortions at later gestations,4Upadhyay UD Weitz TA Jones RK Barar RE Foster DG Denial of abortion because of provider gestational age limits in the United States.Am J Public Health. 2014; 104: 1687-1694Crossref PubMed Scopus (116) Google Scholar or are hospital-based,3Johns NE Foster DG Upadhyay UD Distance traveled for Medicaid-covered abortion care in California.BMC Health Serv Res. 2017; 17: 287Crossref PubMed Scopus (18) Google Scholar the distance might be even longer. Because provider availability decreases with each week of gestation, even a week's delay can reduce the number of providers substantially. Living close to a provider means a woman can have her abortion earlier. The earlier a woman can have an abortion, the safer it will be. Research has also shown that the further a woman lives from her original source of abortion care, the more likely she is to visit an emergency department if symptoms arise that she is concerned about,5Upadhyay UD Johns NE Meckstroth KR Kerns JL Distance traveled for an abortion and source of care after abortion.Obstet Gynecol. 2017; (published online Aug 14.)DOI:10.1097/AOG.0000000000002188Crossref PubMed Scopus (15) Google Scholar when ideally she would receive follow-up care from a health-care provider who is familiar with post-abortion symptoms. Bearak and colleagues2Bearak JM Burke KL Jones RK Disparities and change over time in distance needed to travel to access an abortion in the USA: a spatial analysis.Lancet Public Health. 2017; (published online Oct 3.)http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(17)30158-5Google Scholar only examined distance to high-volume abortion providers (offering 400 or more abortions a year) and Planned Parenthood facilities that did at least one abortion. The authors reported that they excluded physicians' offices that do fewer than 400 abortions a year because potential patients might not be aware of the service they provide and because of confidentiality concerns. Yet, the number of these providers is also declining.6Jones RK Jerman J Abortion incidence and service availability in the United States, 2014.Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2017; 49: 17-27Crossref PubMed Scopus (235) Google Scholar To increase the number and distribution of providers in the USA, ending abortion stigma will be crucial. Abortion stigma leads to institutional prohibitions that single out abortion, fear of retribution by protesters, and internalised stigma, which together might act to disincentive providers who would otherwise be willing to offer abortion care to their patients.7Freedman L Landy U Darney P Steinauer J Obstacles to the integration of abortion into obstetrics and gynecology practice.Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2010; 42: 146-151Crossref PubMed Scopus (58) Google Scholar Ending abortion stigma would help integrate abortion more fully into regular health care, where primary care providers could offer their patients the ability to end unwanted pregnancies. Expanding the types of qualified providers who can offer abortion is also essential. Research has shown that nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives can safely provide medication and aspiration abortions without physician supervision.8Weitz TA Taylor D Desai S et al.Safety of aspiration abortion performed by nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants under a California legal waiver.Am J Public Health. 2013; 103: 454-461Crossref PubMed Scopus (91) Google Scholar, 9Taylor D Hwang AC Mifepristone for medical abortion.Nurs Womens Health. 2003; 7: 524-529Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (4) Google Scholar These providers might serve areas without physicians or where physicians are unwilling to do abortions. Increasing reimbursement could also expand the number of abortion providers across the USA. Studies10Kimport K Rowland B Taking insurance in abortion care: policy, practices, and the role of poverty.in: Kronenfeld JJ Health and health care concerns among women and racial and ethnic minorities. Emerald Publishing, Bingley2017: 39-57Crossref Scopus (6) Google Scholar have shown that private insurance, and the 15 states that use state funds to offer abortions for Medicaid members, reimburse providers at rates that do not cover the full cost of providing abortion care. Bearak and colleagues2Bearak JM Burke KL Jones RK Disparities and change over time in distance needed to travel to access an abortion in the USA: a spatial analysis.Lancet Public Health. 2017; (published online Oct 3.)http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(17)30158-5Google Scholar discussed the effect of state-level restrictions, particularly those that close clinics and increase distances to a provider. US Food and Drug Administration regulations also prevent wider access to medication abortion by confining its provision to clinical office settings by providers who are registered with the distributor of mifepristone.11Mifeprex REMS Study GroupSixteen years of overregulation: time to unburden Mifeprex.N Engl J Med. 2017; 376: 790-794Crossref PubMed Scopus (61) Google Scholar This requirement, which necessitates health-care providers to identify themselves as abortion providers and maintain a stock of the pills in their offices, is not based on evidence. Removing restrictions on mifepristone would allow more primary care providers to occasionally contact a pharmacy with a prescription for patients with an unwanted pregnancy. Another approach is telemedicine. The service is feasible; has comparable clinical outcomes to face-to-face provision, is highly acceptable to users, and expands access to abortion in underserved areas, including rural counties and towns where there are no providers.12Grossman D Grindlay K Safety of medical abortion provided through telemedicine compared with in person.Obstet Gynecol. 2017; (published online Sept 5.)DOI:10.1097/AOG.0000000000002212Google Scholar However, 19 states require abortion providers to be physically present with their patients, thereby banning telemedicine and reducing the feasibility of this approach.13Guttmacher InstituteState policies in brief: medication abortion. Guttmacher Institute, New York2017Google Scholar Research is needed to understand how best to innovate models of abortion service delivery to reach women in underserved areas. New models of care could rely less on high-volume abortion clinics and increase access across distance, leading to more equitable reproductive health care across geographical regions in the USA. I declare no competing interests. I thank Diana Greene Foster, Nicole Johns, and Alice Cartwright for their comments. Disparities and change over time in distance women would need to travel to have an abortion in the USA: a spatial analysisWe showed substantial and persistent spatial disparities in access to abortion in the USA. These results contribute to an emerging literature documenting similar disparities in other high-income countries. Full-Text PDF Open Access