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Objectives
Abortion is a safe procedure, but it is not always perceived as such, even among healthcare
providers. These misperceptions may hinder physicians’ willingness to participate
in abortion care. We documented physicians’ beliefs about abortion safety and associations
between these beliefs and physician referral for and participation in abortion care.
Methods
A 2019 survey at Wisconsin's largest and only public medical school assessed practicing
physicians’ abortion attitudes, beliefs, and practices (n=893). We conducted bivariate
analyses followed by logistic regression to document relationships between physician
beliefs about abortion safety and their participation in abortion care.
Results
One in five physicians (22%, n=190) believed that abortion is not at all, a little,
or somewhat safe compared with 78% (n=690) of physicians who reported that abortion
is very or extremely safe. Findings indicated that medical specialty (obstetrics-gynecology
vs. other; B=2.359, p=0.022), exposure to abortion during medical education (B=0.359,
p=0.038), and religiosity (B=-0.526, p=0.004) were significantly associated with physicians’
beliefs about the safety of abortion. Providers who believed that abortion was very
or extremely safe were more likely than those who did not to refer patients for abortion
care (B=1.145, p<0.001). Beliefs about abortion safety were significantly associated
with participation in abortion care in bivariate analyses (X2[1]=5.834, p=0.016) but not in regression analysis (B=0.611, p=0.065).
Conclusions
While abortions are associated with extremely few adverse events, a sizable proportion
of physicians in our study believed that abortion was not very safe. Results suggest
that exposure to abortion during medical education leads to more accurate assessments
of abortion safety, underscoring the importance of training in this area.
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Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc.
