Some Alabama abortion clinics facing difficulties finding local physicians to provide backup services

Some abortion-rights advocates in Alabama say it has become increasingly difficult for abortion clinics to find local physicians who will serve as backups for abortion providers because of fears they will be targeted and harassed by abortion-rights opponents, AP/Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports.

According to an Alabama Department of Public Health guideline implemented in 2003, clinics must have a physician with admitting privileges at a local hospital to replace on-staff doctors when they are away, according to the AP/Ledger-Enquirer.

Many physicians who provide abortions in the state are not local residents, and some must fly in from other states, the AP/Ledger-Enquirer reports.

State officials in recent weeks have focused on the substitute physician regulation after the state health department said it would seek to revoke the license of the Montgomery, Ala., clinic Reproductive Health Services.

The clinic in an Aug. 2 inspection was found to have been operating without a backup physician for about a year, the AP/Ledger-Enquirer reports.

A hearing in the case originally was scheduled for Sept. 18, but health officials postponed it last week after clinic administrators presented them with a correction strategy.

State Bureau of Health Provider Standards Director Rick Harris said the rule was implemented to protect patients and clinics by improving the quality of health care for women.

Larry Rodick, director of Planned Parenthood of Alabama, said, "It is a concern that the anti-choice people are able to do these things," adding that "it isn't just the physicians who are targeted, but also the women who are going in and out of these clinics." (Hunter, AP/Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, 9/17).