UCSF: A Study in High-Powered Abortion Advocacy

By Randall K. O'Bannon, Ph.D.

Many of you probably read that a new study concludes that many ob-gyn residents who train to do abortions end up not doing them once they join a practice (see www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/May10/nv052510.html and www.nrlc.org/NewsToday/NoAbortionists.html).

There are ironies galore in this good news. They begin with the fact that the study appeared in a publication produced by PPFA's former in-house think-tank (Guttmacher Institute) and is written by men and women associated with an institution (the University of California at San Francisco) that for decades has been in the forefront of abortion training and the promotion of abortion training at U.S. medical schools. As we shall see momentarily, it is these "experts" whom reporters routinely turn for comment when "reproductive" issues come up.

As you might remember from TN&V, researching what happened to medical residents trained in abortion after completing their education, the authors found that "only half of residents who intend to continue provide abortion after residency ultimately do." These passionately pro-abortion authors probed further to find out what were "some of the obstacles."

How ironic that men and women deeply enmeshed in abortion advocacy should conclude that "harassment," a frequently offered explanation, had almost nothing to do with my physicians did not become abortionists. (It has to do almost entirely with resistance from colleagues and institutions.)

But who are the authors and where do they come from? Look at the author credits and you'll see that in one way or the other, everyone involved in the study that appeared in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health is associated with one particular institution -- the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).

As it happens UCSF is the same institution that put out a special booklet, "Honoring San Francisco's Abortion Pioneers," in honor of the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. [http://reprohealth.ucsf.edu/publications/files/Monograph_HonoringSFsAbortionPioneers.pdf]

The booklet, complete with pictures, timelines, and graphics, shows how integral different members of the UCSF faculty were in the move to legalize abortion and then to expand abortion technology and training. The booklet conveniently (for us) features at least three of the four authors of the latest study, "Obstacles to the Integration of Abortion Into Obstetrics and Gynecology Practice," slated to appear in an upcoming fall issue of Perspectives in Sexual and Reproductive Health.
Right from the introduction, the booklet asserts that

"As members of the UCSF community, we can be proud of the role this institution has played in improving women's lives.

The abortion-related service, research, training, and education undertaken here stand proudly in contrast to work at many other medical centers where fear of controversy has overridden public health responsibilities. This publication is intended to honor the 'abortion pioneers' from UCSF who have worked so tirelessly to improve reproductive health through innovative care, research, professional education, and public service" (p.5).

BACKGROUND

David Grimes

The booklet tells us UCSF doctors were performing "therapeutic" abortions in the 1960s.

This was before California, under pressure from a group headed by people from the University of California and UCSF, specifically authorized "therapeutic" abortions--and many more--in 1967 under a (broadly interpreted) exception for maternal physical or mental health (pp. 11-13).

Physicians from UCSF were present at an international abortion conference in Hot Springs, Virginia, where they were introduced to the vacuum aspiration method. They shared these "improvements" with abortionists at UCSF (p.11).

After the 1973 Roe decision eliminated the abortion laws of all 50 states, UCSF teamed with San Francisco General Hospital in 1976 to open "the city's first hospital clinic dedicated to providing abortion and family planning services." It "would become a national model for the integration of residency and fellowship training with clinical care and research" (p. 17).

When other residency programs gradually stopped offering routine abortion training, Philip Darney, one of the authors of the recent study, made this a standard part of resident training at SFGH in 1981, instituting a special "Fellowship in Family Planning." Uta Landy, another author of the recent study, led the Kenneth J. Ryan Training Program which sought to formalize abortion training nationwide, and helped to found the National Abortion Federation (p.17).

The "Honoring San Francisco's Abortion Pioneers" booklet specifically mentions work on chemical abortifacients, such methotrexate, an anti-cancer drug which can be used to cause abortions, mifepristone (RU486), the French abortion pill, and misoprostol, a prostaglandin sometimes used alone or used in combination with RU486 to trigger contractions to expel the baby (p. 17). In addition, a research program dedicated to abortion began at SFGH in 1985 (p.19).

But even UCSF's psychiatry department has gotten involved. In 1990, it challenged what was even then the well established idea that abortion might have psychological repercussions (pp. 17, 19).

Darney and Nancy Padian founded the Center for Reproductive Health Research & Policy in 1998. Felicia Stewart, who was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration, joined the Center in 1999 (p.21).

David Grimes, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's Abortion Surveillance division in 1982-83, was named Ob/Gyn chief at SFGH in 1993. Jody Steinauer, another one of the study's authors, co-founded Medical Students for Choice while a medical student at UCSF. She argued that abortion "needs to be integrated into the curriculum as an important and commonly performed health care service" (p.20).

It would be difficult to exaggerate how prominent an abortion proponent UCSF has been over the decades. Carol Joffe, a prominent abortion activist who is one of the professors at UCSF's Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health and helped put together the "Abortion Pioneers" booklet, outlined the place of UCSF in the abortion movement:

"What UCSF has done, more so than any other medical institution I can think of, has been to integrate abortion into mainstream medical care," she said. "The message that this medical school gives the rest of medicine is that abortion is a normal part of women's reproductive health" (p. 17).

Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com.