Longitudinal trends and characteristics of medication abortion provision in Australian general practice: a national...

To examine longitudinal trends in the provision of medication abortion (MA) in Australian general practice.

Retrospective study of Australian females aged 14-49 years attending Australian general practices between 2014 and 2021. Data were sourced from the national general practice dataset, MedicineInsight. We calculated rates of MA provision and reported characteristics of those receiving and providing MA services.

We identified 4306 instances of MA provision to 3980 unique individuals. The rate of MA provision increased from 0.11 per 1000 females in 2014/15 to 2.10 per 1000 females in 2020/21. A greater absolute increase in the rate of MA was evident among those aged 25-29 years, those residing in regional areas or those in areas of lower socioeconomic status. The proportion of general practices providing MA increased from 4.4% in 2014 to 22.7% in 2021. The proportion of general practices providing MA was higher among those located outside of major cities and in higher socioeconomic status areas.

Despite modest increases in the rates of MA provision in general practice over time, less than one third of general practices provide MA. Significant geographical variation in MA provision is also evident according to remoteness, socioeconomic status and state/territory. The findings emphasise the need for additional initiatives to ensure equitable access to abortion care within the general practice setting, and future research should examine the underlying reasons for differences in MA uptake by patient characteristics and geographical location, informing targeted interventions and service planning.