Objectives

To assess access to abortion pills offered by clinics providing state-funded family planning services in California.

Methods

We attempted to make two scripted calls to a 20% random sample of family planning clinics in California, stratified by county, as "secret shoppers" in 2020 and 2021.

Results

Clinic staff responded to 407 calls. Only 50 respondents (12%) reported their clinic offered abortion pills and 23 respondents (6%) accurately indicated to callers that abortion pills were available free to low-income individuals in California. Most (68%) clinics that did not offer abortion pills could not direct callers to a clinic that did offer abortion pills.

Conclusions

Efforts are needed to increase the number of clinics providing medication abortion services in California. Clinic staff need training to provide accurate information about medication abortion.