WASHINGTON -- While legal abortions in the U.S. are safe, the likelihood that women will receive the type of abortion services that best meet their needs varies considerably depending on where they live, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In addition, the report notes, the vast majority of abortions can be provided safely in office-based settings.
The committee that wrote the report examined the scientific evidence on the safety and quality of the four abortion methods used in the U.S. -- medication, aspiration, dilation and evacuation (D&E), and induction. It assessed quality of care based on whether it is safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable according to well-established standards. Most abortions in the U.S. are performed early in pregnancy; in 2014, 90 percent occurred by 12 weeks of gestation. Medication and aspiration abortions are the most common methods and, together, account for about 90 percent of all abortions. Serious complications from abortion are rare regardless of the method, and safety and quality are enhanced when the abortion is performed as early in pregnancy as possible.
Abortion-specific regulations in many states create barriers to safe and effective care. These regulations may prohibit qualified providers from performing abortions, misinform women of the risks of the procedures they are considering, or require medically unnecessary services and delay care, the report says. Examples of these policies include mandatory waiting periods, pre-abortion ultrasound, and a separate in-person counseling visit. Some states require abortion providers to provide women with written or verbal information suggesting that abortion increases a woman's risk of breast cancer or mental illness, despite the lack of valid scientific evidence of increased risk.
In 2014, there were 17 percent fewer abortion clinics than in 2011, and 39 percent of women of reproductive age resided in a county without an abortion provider. In 2017, 25 states had five or fewer abortion clinics, and five states had only one abortion clinic. In addition, approximately 17 percent of women travel more than 50 miles to obtain an abortion.
The vast majority of abortions can be provided safely in office-based settings, the report says. In 2014, 95 percent of abortions were provided in clinics and other office-based settings. For any outpatient procedure, including abortion, the important safeguards are whether the facility has the appropriate equipment, personnel, and an emergency transfer plan to address complications that might occur. The committee found no evidence indicating that clinicians who perform abortions require hospital privileges to ensure a safe outcome for the patient.
No special equipment or emergency arrangements are required for medication abortions. For other abortion methods, the minimum facility characteristics depend on the level of sedation used, the report says. If moderate sedation is used, the facility should have equipment to monitor oxygen saturation, heart rate, and blood pressure as well as have emergency resuscitation equipment and an emergency transfer plan. Deeper sedation requires equipment to monitor ventilation.
The committee also reviewed the evidence on what clinical skills are necessary for health care providers to safely perform the various components of abortion care, including pregnancy determination, counseling, gestational age assessment, medication dispensing, procedure performance, patient monitoring, and follow-up assessment and care. It concluded that trained physicians - such as OB-GYNs and family medicine physicians -- as well as advanced practice clinicians - such as certified nurse-midwives, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants - can safely and effectively provide medication and aspiration abortions. Physicians with appropriate training and sufficient experience to maintain requisite surgical skills can provide D&E abortions. Clinicians with training in managing labor and delivery can safely and effectively provide induction abortions.
In its review of abortion's potential long-term health effects, the committee examined the evidence on future childbearing and pregnancy, risk of breast cancer, and mental health effects. It found that having an abortion does not increase a woman's risk of secondary infertility, pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders, preterm birth, breast cancer, or mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. The risk of a very preterm first birth appears to be associated with the number of prior abortions. For example, an increased risk of a first birth earlier than 28 weeks of gestation was found to be associated with having two or more aspiration abortions, compared with the first birth of women with no history of prior abortion.
Nineteen states require a physician to be physically present to provide mifepristone -- the only medication specifically approved by the FDA for use in medication abortions - and 17 states require medication abortions to be performed in a facility with attributes of an ambulatory surgery center or hospital. There is no evidence that these practices improve safety or quality of care, the report says. How the limited distribution of mifepristone affects quality of abortion care merits further investigation.
Access to clinical education and training in abortion care in the U.S. is highly variable at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the report says. Medical residents and other advanced clinical trainees often have to find abortion training and experience in settings outside of their educational program. In addition, training opportunities are particularly limited in the Southern and Midwestern states, as well as in rural areas throughout the country.
The committee also looked at trends in abortion care. Between 1980 and 2014, the abortion rate in the U.S. decreased by more than half, from an estimated 29 to 15 per 1,000 women of reproductive age. The reason for this decline is not fully understood, but it has been attributed to the increasing use of contraceptives, especially long-acting methods such as intrauterine devices, historic declines in the rate of unintended pregnancy and increasing numbers of state regulations that limit the availability of otherwise legal abortion services.
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The study was sponsored by the Grove Foundation, The JPB Foundation, Packard Foundation, Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation, Tara Health Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, technology, and medicine. They operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln. For more information, visit nationalacademies.org. A committee roster follows.
Members of the committee that conducted the study and wrote the report will present their findings and recommendations and answer questions during a public webinar beginning at noon EDT on Friday, March 23. Please register for the webinar here.
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Resources:
Download the report at http://www.nationalacademies.org/ReproductiveHealth
Report Highlights
Abortion Care and the Six Attributes of Quality Health Care
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Copies of The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States are available from the National Academies Press on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu or by calling 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE
Health and Medicine Division
Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
Committee on Reproductive Health Services: Assessing the Safety and Quality of Abortion Care
Bruce N. Calonge, M.D., M.P.H.* (co-chair)
Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Epidemiology
School of Medicine and School of Public Health
University of Colorado
Denver
Helene D. Gayle, M.D., M.P.H.* (co-chair)
President and CEO
Chicago Community Trust
Chicago
Wendy R. Brewster, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Gynecologic Oncologist
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and
Director
Center for Women's Health Research
School of Medicine
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill
Lee A. Fleisher, M.D.*
Robert Dunning Dripps Professor of Anesthesia, and
Chair, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
Carol J. Rowland Hogue, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Epidemiology, and
Jules and Uldeen Terry Chair of Maternal and Child Health
Rollins School of Public Health
Emory University
Atlanta
Jody R. Lori, Ph.D., R.N., C.N.M
Associate Professor, and
Associate Dean for Global Affairs
School of Nursing
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor
Jeanne Miranda, Ph.D., M.S.*
Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
Fielding School of Public Health
University of California
Los Angeles
Ruth Murphey Parker, M.D.
Professor of Medicine
School of Medicine
Emory University
Atlanta
Deborah E. Powell, M.D.*
Dean Emeritus, and
Professor
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
University of Minnesota Medical School
Minneapolis
Eva K. Pressman, M.D.
Henry A. Thiede Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Chair
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
University of Rochester
Rochester, N.Y.
Alina Salganicoff, Ph.D.
Vice President, and
Director of Women's Health Policy
The Kaiser Family Foundation
Menlo Park, Calif.
Paul G. Shekelle, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.
Co-Director
Southern California Evidence-Based Practice Center
RAND Corp., and
Professor of Medicine
University of California School of Medicine
Los Angeles
Susan M. Wolf, J.D.*
McKnight Presidential Professor of Law, Medicine, and Public Policy,
Faegre Baker Daniels Professor of Law,
Professor of Medicine, and
Chair, Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment, and the Life Sciences
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis
STAFF
Jill S. Eden, M.B.A, M.P.H.
Staff Officer
*Member, National Academy of Medicine