A survey of 1,800 practicing ob-gyns found that while 97 percent of them have encountered a woman seeking an abortion, only 14 percent are willing or able to provide them.
Of the doctors who do perform abortions, some interesting demographic facts could be gleaned: Female doctors were almost twice as likely (18.6 percent versus 10.6 percent) to provide abortions than their male colleagues.
Doctors ages 26-35 are most likely to perform abortions, perhaps due to a renewed wave of awareness or activism — Medical Students for Choice was founded in the mid-nineties, after a pamphlet "joking" that abortion providers should be shot was distributed to thousands of medical students, and after a doctor was murdered. Or maybe, as was jokingly suggested today, it's because of the heavy rotation of Dirty Dancing on basic cable when that generation was growing up.
Perhaps relatedly, Jewish doctors are by far the likeliest to perform abortions:
40.2 percent of Jewish doctors say yes, compared with
1.2 percent of Evangelical Protestants
9 percent of Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox
10.1 percent of Non-Evangelical Protestants
20 percent of Hindus
26.5 percent of doctors who said they had no religious affiliation
So are doctors working in the Northeast or the West, and in cities rather than rural areas.
Study: A Declining Share Of Ob-Gyns Offer Abortions [Kaiser Health News]
Related: Medical Students For Choice [Official Site]