SALEM — Telemedicine has provided a new avenue for abortion access for Oregonians, utilized by about 50 patients in its first year.

Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette is part of a trial by Gynuity Health Projects that is allowing some patients in Oregon, Washington and several other states to obtain abortion medication via telemedicine.

The sparse use of the option might be because many women don’t know the service is available.

Women seeking an abortion can do so in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy by taking two pills, rather than a surgical abortion. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration tightly regulates the first of the two medications, mifepristone.

Patients can only get mifepristone by physically going to a certified provider at a clinic or hospital.

Participants in this research study, instead, can get necessary tests locally, consult with a Planned Parenthood clinician via videoconference, and then receive both medications by mail.

Gynuity Health Projects is a New York research nonprofit focusing on reproductive and maternal health care.

Limited clinic access

Abortion providers are far sparser than pharmacies, particularly in rural areas.

As of 2014, there were 27 non-specialized facilities in Oregon that provided abortion services, and 15 specialized abortion clinics, according to a 2017 paper published in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health.

At that time, about 30 percent of Oregon women lived in counties without a specialized abortion clinic. Oregon’s easternmost Planned Parenthood clinic is in Bend. Some patients in Eastern Oregon travel to Washington or Idaho if clinics in those states are closer.

The new telemedicine process has several steps. When a patient calls Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette seeking an abortion, the call center asks if they want to use the telemedicine option, and connects the patient with the organization’s research coordinator, who explains the process.

If the patient is still interested, the coordinator helps them set up an ultrasound and blood tests through a local medical provider.

After results come through, the patient has a videoconference with a clinician who discusses the results and prescribes the two abortion medications, if appropriate. Patients seeking a medication abortion don’t necessarily need to see a clinician in person, said Dr. Paula Bednarek, medical director for Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette.

“You need an ultrasound and blood work somewhere, but you don’t have to go far away for those, necessarily,” Bednarek said. “And then the rest of the visit is really about counseling and education, and making sure everybody feels prepared, and then getting the medications to the patient.”

Planned Parenthood then mails the medications. Once the patient takes the medications, Planned Parenthood is available around the clock to counsel them. Patients have a blood test, pregnancy test or ultrasound later to check that the pregnancy has been terminated.

But not many people know about the telemedicine option, Bednarek said.

“Patients don’t know that it’s available,” Bednarek said. “And by the time they call our office, they’ve already figured out how to get themselves into a health center, and so they’ve spent a couple of weeks figuring that piece out, and they didn’t realize this was an option.”