National Academies of Science, Engineering
and Medicine 2018 Report:
"The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in
the United States"
Outcomes of the National
Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NAMSEM) Report:
*
The
clinical evidence documents legal abortions in the United States - whether by
medications, aspiration, dilation and evacuation (D&E), or induction - are
safe and effective.
*
The
recently released NASEM Report on the Safety
and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States concludes that trained
physicians and advanced practice clinicians (APCs) (physician assistants [PAs],
certified nurse midwives [CNMs], and nurse practitioners [NPs]) can safely and
effectively provide medication and aspiration abortions. Induction abortions
can be provided by clinicians (OB/GYNs, family medicine physicians, and
nurse-midwives) with training in managing labor and delivery.
ACNM Position Statement on Midwives as Providers of Abortion Care:
* Midwives may perform manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) abortion
as part of an expanded scope of practice in accordance with state regulations
and credentialing.
* Manual vacuum aspiration abortion has a low risk of
post-procedure complications, such as infection or hemorrhage. The risk profile
of medication abortion is even lower than MVA abortion. Both options pose much
lower risks than childbirth.
* Manual vacuum aspiration abortion and medication abortion
may be safely provided by trained advance practice clinicians (APCs), including
midwives.
* Individuals have the right to decide what is best for their
health, bodies, lives, and families.
* ACNM opposes legislative, policy, or administrative efforts
at the federal, state, and local levels to restrict or ban abortion as well as
any efforts to render it less accessible.
* ACNM supports policy efforts that work to expand clinician
scope of practice laws to include APCs as abortion providers, which will
increase access to comprehensive reproductive health services.
Current Advocacy Examples of Expanding Access to Abortion
Care using APPs:
* Recent successes in
expanding legal and safe abortion provision and access include California's Assembly Bill 154 authorizing
APCs to perform manual vacuum aspiration, and Illinois' HB40 bill which permits public
aid insurance to cover abortion services.
* ACLU's open cases in Maine and Montana contest state regulations preventing
Advanced Practice Clinicians from providing abortion care within their scopes
of practice.
