Hawaii joins list of states allowing some nurses to perform abortions when doctors are in short supply

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be out of date. Please check the history timestamp to see when it was last updated.

Gov. David Ige signed legislation Monday that would make Hawaii the latest state to allow some nurses to perform abortions.

Hawaiian law previously said only physicians could perform early in-clinic abortions. However, due to doctor shortages, several smaller islands lack abortion providers, forcing residents of those islands to fly to Honolulu when they need the procedure.

“This law will allow people in dire need of reproductive health care to receive health care from very high quality health care providers, including experienced nurses, where they need it, when they need it and… in their own communities,” Laura Reichardt, the director of the Hawaii State Center for Nursing said a signing ceremony of the bill.

The new law, which went into effect when the governor signed it, allows advanced-practice nurses to prescribe medication to terminate a pregnancy and perform an aspiration abortion, a type of minor surgery that uses a vacuum to to empty a woman’s uterus. Nurses can do both during the first trimester of pregnancy. Aspiration termination can be performed in a hospital, clinic, or nurse’s office.

Advanced Practice Registered Nurses are registered nurses who have earned at least a master’s degree and are trained and certified to diagnose and treat patient problems and prescribe medication.

Several states already allow this category of nurses to perform medical or aspiration abortions, including California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Virginia, Vermont and West Virginia.

Hawaii has a long track record of advocating abortion rights. In 1970, it became the first state in the nation to legalize abortion at the request of a woman.

But the state’s doctor shortage means the islands of Kauai, Molokai and Lanai have been short of local abortion services lately. On the Big Island, abortion was only available in Hilo, but not on the west side. On Maui, a supplier had to fly in twice a month from another island.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, doctors couldn’t fly to Maui and abortion treatments were unavailable on the island for several months, Dr. Reni Soon, Chair of the Hawaii Section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The law, signed by Ige, says studies have found that abortions performed by a qualified, licensed healthcare provider who are not performed by doctors are just as safe as those performed by doctors. Proponents say advanced practice nurses are already offering procedures that are similar to or more complicated than abortions, such as inserting an IUD and performing an endometrial biopsy.

Most legislature testimonies supported the new law. Opponents included groups opposed to abortion in general and those concerned that advanced-practice nurses would not have the same training as doctors.

Comments are closed.