Southeastern US anesthesia providers' perspectives on abortion provision: Inductive findings from a qualitative study

Abstract

Objectives: Health care providers, including anesthesia providers, hold varied personal views on abortion, which influences their involvement in multidisciplinary abortion care. We aimed to explore Southeastern US anesthesia providers' perspectives on abortion provision and factors impacting their decision to provide anesthesia for hospital-based induced abortion.

Study design: We conducted in-depth, individual interviews with currently practicing anesthesia providers in the Southeastern United States. We recruited participants from regional anesthesiology conferences and via snowball sampling. A semistructured interview guide explored domains of obstetric experiences, standardized abortion cases, and personal abortion attitudes. We coded data iteratively and analyzed data thematically using inductive approaches with qualitative software.

Results: Fifteen participants completed interviews, at which point thematic saturation occurred. Participants represented a range of provider type and prior abortion experience. Participants weighed "personal and professional viewpoints" in considering their willingness to provide anesthesia care for hospital-based abortion. Many participants who personally disagreed with some abortion indications were still willing to provide anesthesia in those cases, some implicitly naming principles of medical ethics to justify differing professional and personal opinions. Participants also considered their "role in abortion decision-making": all participants reported that the abortion decision belongs to the patient or their obstetrician and not the anesthesia provider.

Conclusions: Southeastern US anesthesia providers are influenced by multiple factors when considering their participation in hospital-based abortion care. Acknowledging differences in professional and personal viewpoints and identifying roles in abortion decision-making might be important to engaging anesthesia providers in abortion care, especially for high-risk medical or fetal indications.

Implications: This original, qualitative study identified several inductive themes that characterize how Southeastern US anesthesia providers formulate their level of participation in hospital-based abortion care. Acknowledging differences in professional and personal viewpoints and identifying roles in abortion decision-making might facilitate interdisciplinary abortion care, especially for high-risk medical or fetal indications.

Keywords: Abortion; Anesthesia providers; Professionalism; Qualitative research; Thematic analysis.