Access to abortion as a medical option has become more limited -- despite being legal -- and the reason for its narrowed availability lies more with the medical community than with anti-abortion forces, argues a UC Davis sociologist in a new book. Less than one-third of the nation's hospitals today are capable of performing abortions, 84 percent of all U.S. counties are without abortion facilities and the number of medical training programs routinely teaching abortion procedures has dropped by one half since 1976, notes professor Carole Joffe in her book, "Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion Before and After Roe. v. Wade." Joffe interviewed 45 physicians who have provided or facilitated abortions before and since the Roe vs. Wade decision, presenting in her book a side of the abortion picture that rarely has been explored. She shows how the medical profession has marginalized abortion services. "By focusing on the providers, my intention is to emphasize a seemingly obvious, yet largely undiscussed aspect of the abortion issue -- that the actual delivery of abortions cannot take place unless some persons are willing to view this phenomenon as their work." Joffe says she is cautiously optimistic that new ob/gyn residency standards that mandate training in abortion techniques, the near-certain approval of medical abortions, and recent organizing efforts by pro-choice medical students will make abortion more widely available.