National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers
Today we celebrate the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers. This is a day of appreciation and of remembrance, as it marks the 16th anniversary of the brutal murder of abortion provider Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Florida.
As Katha Pollitt of The Nation reminds us, abortion providers deserve our appreciation because they not only courageously countenance anti-choice protest and threats on a daily basis, but currently face a slew of anti-choice obstacles in states across the country.
And abortion providers’ worries don’t end there. An article in The New York Times on Sunday reports that as an older generation of abortion providers retires, many advocates worry that there won’t be enough young doctors willing to accept lower pay, endure daily picketing, and brave the threat of violence in order to provide abortion services. As Kelli Conlin, President of the National Institute for Reproductive Health and NARAL Pro-Choice New York, told the Times:
While it’s not a problem finding younger doctors and support staff to work in clinics in large urban areas like New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, it is an issue in more conservative places, like upstate New York; smaller Midwestern cities; Southern states, including Texas; and rural areas.
The Times article says that younger doctors, having never lived through a pre-Roe v. Wade era, may lack the “fire in their belly” that motivates the older generation. However, access to training in abortion procedures also limits doctors’ ability to provide abortion care. As Pollitt notes, “med school policies mean only a small proportion of medical students are even learning how to perform this relatively simple procedure.”
Thankfully, in New York City things are pretty good on that front. In 1998, recognizing the diminishing number of new doctors offering abortion services and the dire lack of abortion training in most New York City residency programs, the National Institute (then the NARAL Pro-Choice New York Foundation) launched the Resident Training Initiative to establish, improve and expand access to abortion procedures in residency programs. The National Initiative found a committed ally in Mayor Bloomberg, and, in 2002, New York City became the first U.S. city to require abortion techniques as a standard part of training for Ob/Gyn residents at public hospitals.
Instituting such policies in other localities across the country would go a long way toward improving access to quality abortion care, proving that abortion care is a necessary part of women’s overall health care, and making working conditions better for providers everywhere.
By Maya Dusenbery