Do healthcare workers’ spirituality and/or religiosity affect their willingness to provide abortion care at an academic institution?  
Abortion
Awarded 2026
Emerging Scholars in Family Planning
Komal Kumar, MD
University of Washington
$7,500

Although spirituality and attitudes on abortion care have been reviewed in medical literature, few studies have examined this connection across different healthcare professions and specialties within the same academic institution. Additionally, hospital-based abortion care requires the assistance of many healthcare workers, many of whom have been overlooked in medical literature regarding their own beliefs and participation in abortion care. Our study seeks to examine if spirituality and/or religion affect healthcare workers’ decision to participate in abortion care. We are currently in the process of distributing a REDCap survey to the Labor and Delivery Unit (including registered nurses, midwives, OBGYN residents fellows and attendings, anesthesia providers and trainees) as well as surgical operating room teams (including surgical technicians, registered nurses, anesthesia providers and trainees). We hope to identify study participants who are willing to participate in a future qualitative interview that will further examine this topic. We are applying for this grant to help compensate qualitative study participants.