Characteristics of abortion provider respondents by specialty
| Characteristic | No. (%) of respondents* | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary care providers† n = 280 | General obstetrician–gynecologists n = 145 | Maternal–fetal medicine subspecialists n = 40 | Total n = 465 | |
| Region‡ | ||||
| British Columbia | 61 (21.8) | 21 (14.5) | 9 (22.5) | 91 (19.6) |
| Prairies | 39 (13.9) | 13 (9.0) | < 5 | § |
| Ontario | 99 (35.4) | 42 (29.0) | 12 (30.0) | 153 (32.9) |
| Quebec | 41 (14.6) | 54 (37.2) | 12 (30.0) | 107 (23.0) |
| Atlantic provinces | 28 (10.0) | 14 (9.7) | < 5 | § |
| Territories | 12 (4.3) | < 5 | 0 | § |
| Gender | ||||
| Men | 36 (12.9) | 22 (15.2) | 12 (30.0) | 70 (15.1) |
| Women | 244 (87.1) | 123 (84.8) | 28 (70.0) | 395 (84.9) |
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Age, yr | ||||
| < 40 | 123 (46.2) | 60 (43.5) | < 5 | § |
| 40–49 | 76 (28.6) | 42 (30.4) | 17 (48.6) | 135 (30.8) |
| ≥50 | 67 (25.2) | 36 (26.1) | 14 (40.0) | 117 (26.7) |
| Type of abortion care¶ | ||||
| First-trimester medical abortion | 275 (98.2) | 105 (72.4) | 8 (20.0) | 388 (83.4) |
| First-trimester surgical abortion | 82 (29.3) | 125 (86.2) | 12 (30.0) | 219 (47.1) |
| Second-trimester surgical abortion | 36 (12.9) | 63 (43.4) | 10 (25.0) | 109 (23.4) |
| Second- or third-trimester medical abortion | 9 (3.2) | 66 (45.5) | 39 (97.5) | 115 (24.7) |
| Type of abortion care combinations¶ | ||||
| Exclusively first-trimester medical abortion | 196 (70.0) | 11 (7.6) | 0 | 207 (44.5) |
| First-trimester medical abortion and surgical abortion | 78 (27.9) | 88 (60.7) | 6 (15.0) | 172 (37.0) |
| First- and second-trimester surgical abortion | 36 (12.9) | 62 (42.8) | 8 (20.0) | 106 (22.8) |
| Exclusively second- or third-trimester medical abortion | < 5 | < 5 | 24 (60.0) | § |
| Number of abortions | ||||
| First-trimester medical abortion | 9587 (27.8) | 3669 (29.9) | 173 (10.1) | 13429 (27.7) |
| First-trimester surgical abortion | 23890 (69.2) | 7336 (59.8) | 1119 (65.6) | 32345 (66.7) |
| Second-trimester surgical abortion | 1059 (3.1) | 1039 (8.5) | 83 (4.9) | 2181 (4.5) |
| Second- or third-trimester medical abortion | < 5 | 218 (1.4) | 332 (13.0) | § |
| Total | 34540 | 12262 | 1707 | 48509 |
| Following national clinical abortion practice guidelines¶ | ||||
| SOGC | 242 (92.0) | 131 (98.4) | 37 (100.0) | 411 (94.8) |
| NAF | 122 (46.6) | 48 (36.1) | 5 (13.5) | 167 (40.6) |
| Other | 7 (2.7) | < 5 | < 5 | § |
| Missing | 16 (5.7) | 12 (8.3) | < 5 | § |
| Experience with first-trimester medical abortion, yr | ||||
| < 5 | 171 (64.5) | 48 (52.7) | < 5 | § |
| 5–10 | 40 (15.1) | 19 (20.9) | < 5 | § |
| 11–15 | 28 (10.6) | 13 (14.3) | < 5 | § |
| 16–20 | 12 (4.5) | 7 (7.7) | 0 | 19 (5.2) |
| > 20 | 14 (5.3) | < 5 | < 5 | § |
| Years of abortion experience** | ||||
| < 5 | 160 (59.3) | 41 (31.8) | 8 (20.5) | 209 (47.7) |
| 5–10 | 41 (15.2) | 26 (20.2) | 9 (23.1) | 76 (17.4) |
| 11–15 | 29 (10.7) | 24 (18.6) | 8 (20.5) | 61 (13.9) |
| 16–20 | 12 (4.4) | 16 (12.4) | < 5 | § |
| > 20 | 28 (10.4) | 22 (17.1) | 10 (25.6) | 60 (13.7) |
| Focus††, %, median (IQR) | 15 (5–30) | 10 (5–20) | 5 (5–10) | 10 (5–20) |
Note: IQR = interquartile range, NAF = National Abortion Federation, SOGC = The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada.
↵* Percentages were calculated based on the total number of respondents for the individual variable (based on skip-pattern logic and nonmandatory questions). The denominator for each reported percentage consists of the number of respondents who answered that question.
↵† To maintain respondent anonymity, we grouped family physicians, emergency medicine physicians and nurse practitioners into a “primary care provider” category when reporting results by specialty. Primary care providers include 246 family physicians, fewer than 5 emergency medicine physicians, and 30 nurse practitioners.
↵‡ To maintain respondent anonymity, we reported geographic results by regions (British Columbia, the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec, the Atlantic provinces and the territories), combining some provinces with low respondent numbers. Prairies include Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Atlantic provinces includes New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island. Territories includes the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut.
↵§ Totals not reported to maintain respondents’ anonymity.
↵¶ Respondents could select more than 1 answer option.
↵** Years of experience in abortion care was based on the highest reported value within the survey (as respondents indicated years of experience for each type of provision).
↵†† Proportion of respondent practice focused on abortion and contraception care.