Since 2001, three of the 29 clinics and hospitals that provided second-trimester abortions have stopped. However, since no one knows how many private doctors still perform the procedure, observers say it's hard to determine the full impact.
Most agree that even fewer doctors are willing and able to perform third-trimester abortions, which are even more complex and controversial.
Meyers sees several reasons for the decrease in providers of second-trimester abortions. First, they account for only 11 percent of the cases, so residents and doctors have fewer opportunities to learn the procedure, she says.
And because the operation is more complex and riskier than a first-term abortion, malpractice insurers charge more for coverage.
As a result, Meyers and others say, some doctors have decided the procedure is more trouble than it's worth.
But some older doctors who remember what abortion was like before 1973 see their work as essential, even lifesaving.
The anonymous clinic doctor, for example, was an obstetrics and gynecology resident at a Baltimore hospital in the late 1960s. He was often on call for the emergency room.
"I would spend my days and nights taking care of complications from abortions that had taken place in nonmedical facilities," he says. "After Roe, that disappeared overnight."
david.kohn@baltsun.com
State laws
More than half the states have enacted laws that would take effect if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that legalized abortion nationwide.
These 11 states have enacted so-called "trigger laws" that express an intent to outlaw abortion if Roe is overturned: Arkansas, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Utah.
These 17 states have laws that explicitly protect abortion rights if Roe is reversed: Maryland, Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and West Virginia.
Illinois appears on both lists because the Illinois courts have ruled that the state offers greater protection of abortion rights than Roe v. Wade, while the state Legislature has passed a law that would repeal the state's abortion law if Roe is overturned.
