Many pro-choice groups have complained that most counties in the United States do not have an abortion clinic. They argue that rural women need to drive long distances to reach abortion clinics, and often blame pro-lifers for this. In reality, the main reason that clinics are usually located in cities has to do with money. From an article in the New York Times:
“In Detroit, and in other large metropolitan areas around the country, there are not too few abortion providers, as abortion proponents have lamented for years. There are too many. It is still true that fewer hospitals are providing abortions, fewer doctors outside abortion clinics are offering the procedure and 86 percent of counties in the country have no abortion provider.
But, over the past few years, as the number of abortions has declined, abortions increasingly have been concentrated in specialty clinics in cities and pockets of competition have developed.
So while women in rural areas must sometimes drive hundreds of miles to the nearest clinic, in cities and suburbs there are price wars and competition over amenities. Doctors have refused to train colleagues, fearing they will only help a potential competitor in a lucrative, often cash-only, business.
…. Clinic owners say they have little choice but to cluster in cities — that is the only way they can find enough patients. Ruth Arick, the owner of Choice Pursuits in DeLand, Fla., which does management consulting for abortion clinics, said that a population of about 200,000 is needed to support a full-fledged clinic.”
In addition, pro-choice people often blame pro-lifers for a shortage of providers, claiming that doctors fear violence. In reality, stigma is a major reason why doctors don’t do abortions. Another reason is the emotional trauma of tearing apart developing babies every day.
A third reason is that doctors don’t want to train competitors. From the New York Times article:
“One doctor in Detroit, who spoke on condition he not be identified, saying he feared hostility from his colleagues, said that when he finished medical school, trained in obstetrics and gynecology, he asked abortion doctors in the area to train him. He was turned away.”
GINA KOLATA “As Abortion Rate Decreases, Clinics Compete for Patients” The NY Times December 30, 2000
Abortion is a business, like any other. Clinics do not do abortions for free. Abortionists and clinic owners are out to make money off of the women who come in for abortions.
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