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Womenʼs Clinic Closings Negatively Impacted Cervical Cancer Outcomes

CHICAGO—Cervical cancer outcomes grew worse where women’s clinics have been forced to close as a result of statelegislated restrictions on abortion providers, according to research presented at the 2019 ASTRO Annual Meeting (Radiat Oncol 2019;105:Supp,PS98). Following the closing of almost 100 women’s health clinics across the U.S. between 2010 to 2013, fewer women were screened for cervical cancer, more women were diagnosed with advanced stages of the disease, and mortality rates increased, researchers told a press briefing. “The data are troubling. Reducing the availability of cervical cancer screening has very real, negative consequences for women,” said lead author Amar Srivastava, MD, MPH, a resident physician in radiation oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The wave of clinic closings was largely due to changes in funding structures in the Title X Family Planning Program and enactment of state laws regulating standards at clinics, such as requiring all pregnancy terminations to be performed only by physicians with hospital privileges. “As these clinics closed over time, it appears that fewer women were getting screened, and this trend appears to be associated with a greater number of women ultimately dying from cervical cancer,” he noted.