Attitudes of Scottish abortion care providers towards provision of abortion after 16 weeks’ gestation within Scotland

Abstract

The majority of health professionals surveyed who work in Scottish abortion services support provision of abortion beyond 16 weeks within Scotland, and most favour a single national service. Further work on the feasibility of providing this service is required.

Access to and Experience of Later Abortion: Accounts from Women in Scotland

“…However, later abortions under Ground C are usually provided at hospital gynecology (rather than maternity) departments, and so medication abortion is not currently offered to women having Ground C terminations. Research suggests that medical providers may have some distaste for offering later abortions, and that senior health service management does not support such procedures …”

Comparison of uptake of long-acting reversible contraception after abortion from a hospital or a community sexual and reproductive healthcare setting: an observational study

“…A small number ( n =19) of women at advanced gestation (>20 weeks) were referred to a specialist service for abortion, since this was not available within the region 19 20…”

Conducting a survey of abortion-related knowledge, attitudes and practices amongst health professionals in Britain, strategies adopted and lessons learned: evidence from the SACHA Study

“…4 Most health professional surveys on abortion care in Britain have focused on attitudes, particularly towards abortion law and conscientious objection. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Other topics have included medical students' future willingness to participate in abortion care, 5,6 referral practices, 7 views on models of service provision, 13,14 and terminology. 15 These surveys have been predominantly confined to doctors, including medical students, 9,10,12 general practitioners (GPs), 7,9,10 and obstetricians and gynaecologists.…”

“…9,11,12 A few surveys of participants at specialist meetings or conferences have included doctors working in community sexual and reproductive health (SRH) clinics, nurses, and midwives, but overall representation of these professionals is scarce. [13][14][15] The majority of surveys have used convenience samples, increasing the potential for bias. Recruitment from universities, conferences and general practices more actively involved in research is likely to reduce generalisability of findings to the wider workforce.…”