SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Rural Abortion Services Drop

It is becoming increasingly difficult for women in rural areas to find a health-care facility offering abortions, according to a study by a reproductive-biology think tank that has found a 51% drop in the number of rural abortion providers since 1977. The study, released last week by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, found that 93% of all rural counties in the United States had no hospitals, clinics or physicians willing to do abortions in 1988. One half of all urban counties were in a similar position. In the latest of a series of abortion service surveys, the institute found a 19% drop in the number of rural providers between 1985 and 1988--a decline the researchers traced largely to decisions by rural hospitals to simply stop offering abortions.

“The greater the distance from a physician or facility providing abortions, the less likely a woman is to gain access to the service,” the institute concluded. Those women are more likely to have abortions later in pregnancy, when the risk is higher, the researchers said.