ArticleFamily practice2021
The perspective of Canadian health care professionals on abortion service during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in Family practice, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Trends in Hospital Abortion During the First 2 Years of COVID-19 in Quebec, Canada: Results From a Population-Based Observational Study.Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health · 2025Observational
- Trust, autonomy, and informed consent: a qualitative investigation of youth experiences accessing contraception in Canada.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2025Article
- What motivates primary care providers to prescribe mifepristone medication abortion? Results of a qualitative investigation in Canada.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Changes in local access to mifepristone dispensed by community pharmacies for medication abortion in Ontario: a population-based repeated cross-sectional study.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2025Article
- Trends in Abortion Rates in Ontario, Canada.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Global Evidence on the Sustainability of Telemedicine in Outpatient and Primary Care During the First 2 Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review Using the Nonadoption, Abandonment, Scale-Up, Spread, and Sustainability (NASSS) Framework.Interactive journal of medical research · 2025Review
- Artificial intelligence and social accountability in the Canadian health care landscape: A rapid literature review.PLOS digital health · 2024Review
- Abortion care at 20 weeks and over in Victoria: a thematic analysis of healthcare providers' experiences.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- Telemedicine for First-Trimester Medical Abortion in Canada: Results of a 2019 Survey.Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association · 2023Article
- Pharmacist direct dispensing of mifepristone for medication abortion in Canada: a survey of community pharmacists.BMJ open · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic response created novel challenges for abortion services. Canada was uniquely positioned to transition to telemedicine because internationally common restrictions on abortion medication were removed before the pandemic.
objectiveWe sought to characterize the experiences of abortion health care professionals in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of the pandemic response on abortion services.
methodsWe conducted a sequential mixed methods study between July 2020 and January 2021. We invited physicians, nurse practitioners and administrators to participate in a cross-sectional survey containing an open-ended question about the impact of the pandemic response on abortion care. We employed an inductive codebook thematic analysis, which informed the development of a second, primarily quantitative survey.
resultsOur initial survey had 307 respondents and our second had 78. Fifty-three percent were family physicians. Our first survey found respondents considered abortion access essential. We identified three key topicss: access to abortion care was often maintained despite pandemic-related challenges (e.g. difficulty obtaining tests, additional costs); change of practice to low-touch medication abortion care and provider perceptions of patient experience, including shifting demand, telemedicine acceptability and increased rural access. The second survey indicated uptake of telemedicine medication abortion among 89% of participants except in Quebec, where regulations meant procedures were nearly exclusively surgical. Restrictions did not delay care according to 76% of participants.
conclusionsCanadian health care professionals report their facilities deemed abortion an essential service. Provinces and territories, except Quebec, described a robust pandemic transition to telemedicine to ensure access to services. PODCAST: An accompanying podcast is available in the Supplementary Data, in which the authors Dr Madeleine Ennis and Kate Wahl discuss their research on how family planning care and access to abortion services have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.