Abortion Costs Are Kept Artificially Low
According to a December 30, 2000 front page investigative report from the New York Times tough competition has resulted in cost cutting measures that involve the use of untrained staff and variations from recommended procedures.
“…unlike other areas of medicine, where prices have surged over the years, competition among abortion clinics has kept prices so low that an abortion in many cities costs less now than it did 25 years ago, without even adjusting for the nearly 500 percent inflation in medical services. If abortion had kept up with inflation in medical services, a $300 abortion in 1972 would cost $2,251 today [December of 2000]….
“‘The fees are not set by the cost of the services but by the cost of the competition,’ said Dr. Warren Hern, owner of the Boulder Abortion Clinic in Colorado. And, he said, ‘the competition for patients is absolutely ruthless.
“Ms. Allen and Ms. Miller [owners of an Arizona abortion clinic] still have to watch every penny. Like other clinics, the owners save money by training a low-paid staff to do everything but the actual surgery, from drawing blood to doing lab tests. Most of the time, no patients are scheduled and the staff cleans and does paper work. But when the doctor comes, a parade of patients is ready for the procedure, which takes just two or three minutes in the first trimester of pregnancy…
“Now, clinics are grappling with the mifepristone dilemma. Owners feel they have to offer the recently approved abortion pill, formerly known as RU-486, because women are asking for it and seem to expect it. But its price — $270 for three pills — will be a problem. Many owners say that if they charge what it costs to provide the three pills plus the three office visits, the lab work, and the counseling, they will lose customers to competitors who say they will keep the price much lower.
“Some have found creative solutions. Ms. Chelian said she is considering offering women just one pill instead of three and to have them sign a form saying they understand that one pill is not the approved dose but that studies have shown that one pill is effective. Then she can charge them just $80 more than for a surgical abortion.
“Carmen Franco, who owns six clinics in Detroit, said she expects to charge women $450 for a mifepristone abortion with the full three-pill dose. It is less than her costs. But, she said, by making it available, she expects to draw patients to the clinic where they can see the full range of options she provides. ‘We probably will use it as a loss leader,’ she said.”
The specialization of abortion services has led to competitive marketing practices that emphasize high volume and low cost. The cost cutting measures have often involved compromises in the standard of care necessary to safe guard women’s health and have led to charges that many free standing abortion clinics operate on an “assembly line” basis. In many cases, the time set aside for counseling women is extremely limited. This is especially disturbing since the irrevocable decision to abort is very complex one, often made in highly emotional situations with great ambivalence, and includes many risks. Furthermore, in many cases, this very limited screening and counseling that is provided is undertaken by employees who lack any professional accreditation as medical or psychological counselors. The cost-cutting measures employed by “assembly line” abortion clinics have reduced costs to a point that it is difficult for other physicians who would employ a higher standard of care to provide abortions at a comparable cost. Many physicians who would otherwise be willing to perform abortions simply cannot afford to provide abortion services at a competitive rate without making similar sacrifices in the standard of care they believe would be most appropriate.
“Dr. Hern used to have plenty of patients for first-trimester abortions at his clinic in Boulder, where he was charging $375. Then, a Planned Parenthood clinic opened in nearby Fort Collins, charging less than $300. Subsidized by the nonprofit Planned Parenthood Foundation, the clinic was able to keep its fees lower than Dr. Hern could even contemplate.
”Within a month after that clinic opened, my patient numbers dropped by 25 percent,” Dr. Hern said.
Independent abortion providers say Planned Parenthood clinics can easily undercut them. ”I would sort of compare them to Wal-Mart coming in and taking over from all the mom and pops’,” said Dr. William West, who works at an abortion clinic in Dallas.”
Calculating how much abortions should cost today
OfficialData.org (Medical Care Price Inflation): Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data, this calculator shows that first-trimester abortions priced at $300 in 1972 should be priced at $4,744.55 in 2026. But according to Planned Parenthood today:
Abortion pills (AKA medication abortion) can cost up to around $800, but it’s often less. The average cost at Planned Parenthood is around $580. An in-clinic abortion in the first trimester can cost up to around $800, but it’s often less. The average cost of a first trimester in-clinic abortion at Planned Parenthood is about $600. The cost of a second trimester abortion at Planned Parenthood varies depending on how many weeks pregnant you are. If early in the second trimester, the average cost is $715. If later in the second trimester, it can be between $1,500-2,000.
The cost of abortion, in my view, is kept low and subsidized by population control advocates targeting low income women through "abortion grants" and fundraising intended to eliminate any financial obstacles in the way of aborting a "useless eater" (to use the term of the early population controllers who were most blunt about their intentions).