“ A Statement on Abortion by One Hundred Professors of Obstetrics Am J Obstet Gynecol. 112:992-998 April 1, 1972

Current and past chairs of academic ob. gyn Current and past chairs of academic ob. gyn. departments in every state signed in 1972.

1972: “A Statement on Abortion by One Hundred Professors of Obstetrics” “It is our hope that these views…will lead physicians to prepare for the demand that will be placed upon them by society and by the rapidly lessening governmental control of abortion practices.”

1972: “A Statement on Abortion by One Hundred Professors of Obstetrics” “The best estimate for the first year is one million. Can we handle such a load? Yes…” “Physicians should learn to do early abortions with suction…on an outpatient basis…using less time and entailing less blood loss than conventional curettage.” “Physicians should also become familiar with administering local anesthesia …so that time, expense, personnel and complications… will be reduced.”

Number of Legal Abortions USA, 1969-2005 1970: Abortion laws liberalized in 15 states* January 22, 1973: Roe v. Wade * By the end of 1970, four states had repealed their antiabortion laws, and 11 states had reformed them. The pre-1973 numbers listed are LEGAL abortions. Sources: 1969–1972: Center for Disease Control (CDC) Abortion Surveillance, Annual Summary, 1973, Atlanta: CDC, 1973. 1973–2000: Finer LB and Henshaw SK, Abortion incidence and services in the United States in 2000, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2003, 35(1):6–15. 2001-2002: Finer LB and Henshaw SK, Estimates of U.S. abortion incidence in 2001 and 2002, The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 2005, <http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2005/05/18/ab_incidence.pdf >, accessed May 17, 2005. 2003-2005: Jones RK et al., Abortion in the United States: incidence and access to services, 2005, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2008, 40(1):6–16. 8

Deaths from abortion decreased after legalization. “…space will soon be freed by the lessened number of septic abortions.”

The 100 Professors’ Vision: “Abortion should be made equally available to the rich and the poor”

The 100 Professors’ Plan: If only half of the 20,000 ob gyns did abortions, each would do only 2 per week. Existing hospital facilities can handle the volume by Encouraging first trimester abortions. Converting “an ordinary treatment room into a minor surgery unit and providing an adjacent 4 bed recovery room.” Eliminate hospital therapeutic abortion boards and create committees to collect and analyze data on technique and complications. Also mention rotating physicians to attend the new service, selecting paramedical staff sympathetic to women having abortions. Laying out the template for the Ryan Program approach

Major teaching hospitals established abortion clinics for service and training. Johns Hopkins University San Francisco General Hospital (UCSF) Medical University of South Carolina Grady (Emory University)) Cook County (Northwestern University) Boston Hospital for Women (Harvard Medical School) Kings County, SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn, NY Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago Parkland, Dallas (Univ. Texas, Southwestern) Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC and others Let’s start with the first, incorporating into the hospital. What is astounding, in doing further research into abortion practices, many hospitals did abortions in the early days of legalization. Some of them we know that have maintained those services, some have grown, others have declined and risen again, and some have disappeared altogether. Here are a few examples:

1973: Prof. Kenneth J. Ryan, starts abortion clinic at The Boston Lying-in Hospital. 13

Achieving the 1972 “Vision of 100 Professors” 40 years later. Repeat their statement Encourage teaching hospitals to provide: Abortion services Abortion training Abortion research Oppose restrictive legislation Advocate for family planning and safe abortion in health care reform

2013: The New Statement on Academic Responsibilities -Teach future practitioners about all methods of contraception and about uterine evacuation throughout pregnancy, ranging from miscarriage management to emergent evacuations and the treatment of complications in accordance with our professional mandate from US Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. -Provide evidence-based information to all patients seeking family planning or pregnancy termination. -Provide evidence-based information to legislators who propose laws requiring inaccurate information or unindicated procedures for women seeking to terminate a pregnancy. -Insist that the hospitals where we care for women and teach students and residents treat patients who require hospital-based pregnancy terminations. -Ensure the availability of all methods of contraception, particularly LARC methods, to reduce the need for abortion.