Abortion Clinics OnLine in the Press
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AnnRose
Founder
Abortion
Clinics OnLine
PO Box 500788
Atlanta, GA 31150
770-552-6591 FAX 552-6609
E-Mail: annrose@randomc.com
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INTERNET WEBSITE
PUTS ABORTION CLINICS ONLINE
October 11, 1995
Abortion
Clinics OnLine is an online website which lists abortion facilities
in a specialized directory. They may be private physician's offices,
state-licensed abortion clinics, surgi-centers, or hospital abortion
services. Providers are listed by State, then City. Linked Home
Pages include information on abortion procedures, patient instructions,
prices, directions, etc.
Ann Rose, an Atlanta
consultant to abortion providers all over the country, started the site
in October of 1995 in an attempt to give abortion providers a coordinated
presence on the Internet.
"When I first started
surfing, I was surprised that there were plenty of sites devoted to the
political issues surrounding abortion, but no sites detailing clinical
services. The political aspects mean nothing if there aren't clinics willing
to provide the services", she maintains.
A 20-year veteran
of clinic management, Ms. Rose has personally visited over half of the
approximately 1,000 abortion providers in the country. She works with them
by presenting educational inservices on stress management, contraceptive
risk taking, repeat abortion, why women delay, dealing with difficult people
and other issues important to abortion clinic work.
Abortion Clinics
Online currently has over 100 clinics represented in 40 states, and links
to other supportive sites. Ms. Rose contends that abortion providers have
always been on the cutting edge of health care advertising.
"In the 70's abortion
clinics were one of the first health care entities to advertise to the
public on television and radio. Now, health care advertising is widespread
and totally acceptable. Clinics are increasingly interested in this new
educational avenue," she adds.
Susan Hill, president
of the National Women's Health Organization,
a group of 8 clinics nationwide listed in Abortion Clinics Online sees
the Internet as "the billboard of the 90's". She contends that you really
can't get a grasp on how many people see and process your ad, but "the
Information Superhighway is where the young people are, and that's where
we need to have information about our services." She adds that "we have
already gotten patients referred from the Internet, even in diverse cities
as Jackson, Mississippi, and Fargo, North Dakota."
Of special interest
to abortion providers is that the teenage and college populations are very
connected with the Internet. Most colleges and universities have extensive
computer facilities, even in the dorms. One thing we do know for sure is
that young people rely very much on the Internet for information and education.
Approximately 1/3 of abortion patients are teenagers, 1/3 are 20-24, and
1/3 are 25 and above. Abortion providers are innovative in recognizing
that others are using computers daily and want to make their information
available to these users.