Administrative, Counseling and Medical Practices in National Abortion Federation Facilities

Abstract

A survey of members of the National Abortion Federation (NAF), most of them non-hospital facilities, responsible for performing almost half of the abortions in the United States, was carried out by the NAF in 1981. Among the principal findings were the following: Fifty-three percent of the NAF facilities are freestanding clinics operated for profit. Fifty-one percent are open more than 50 hours per week, and 77 percent are open six days a week; 86 percent are open on Saturdays. Seventy-five percent of the physicians performing abortions in these facilities are gynecologists. Counseling provided by specially trained abortion counselors is a unique contribution of abortion facilities to health-care delivery. Virtually all facilities employ counselors who are neither doctors nor nurses. Most NAF facilities have more counselors than nurses and more nurses than doctors. Counseling in virtually all facilities includes providing written as well as verbal information about the nature of the procedure and its medical risks; such information is given to the patient so that she can give informed consent for the abortion. Almost all facilities include information about contraception and about the options available to a woman with a problem pregnancy. Most offer counseling to the male, as well as the female partner, on the patient's request. Twenty-eight percent of facilities generally provide both individual and group counseling. Where only one type of counseling is provided, it is usually individual counseling.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)