Contraception and abortion coverage: What do primary care physicians think?

Background: Insurance coverage for family planning services has been a highly controversial element of the US health care reform debate. Whether primary care providers (PCPs) support public and private health insurance coverage for family planning services is unknown.

Study Design: PCPs in three states were surveyed regarding their opinions on health plan coverage and tax dollar use for contraception and abortion services.

Results: Almost all PCPs supported health plan coverage for contraception (96%) and use of tax dollars to cover contraception for low-income women (94%). A smaller majority supported health plan coverage for abortions (61%) and use of tax dollars to cover abortions for low-income women (63%). In adjusted models, support of health plan coverage for abortions was associated with female gender and internal medicine specialty, and support of using tax dollars for abortions for low-income women was associated with older age and internal medicine specialty.

Conclusion: The majority of PCPs support health insurance coverage of contraception and abortion, as well as tax dollar subsidization of contraception and abortion services for low-income women.