SummaryDoctors are considered by the public to be the main source of information and advice on abortion: the incidence of consultation regarding unwanted pregnancy ranges in Australian practices from 0 to 120 women per year. If a doctor refers a woman on for abortion, the outcome of the referral depends on the referrer's letter (favourable or not) and the referral place used (gynaecologist, hospital or abortion clinic). Two research questions are examined in the present study: is it possible to identify systematic differences between doctors who refer patients to an abortion clinic and those who do not; and, are some regions of Melbourne and Victoria better served than others by doctors who are sympathetic to women requesting abortion?In a 16 week period in a Melbourne clinic, patients presented letters from 470 doctors. Propensity to refer was unrelated to doctor's sex, but was related to poor socio‐economic status of the practice's suburb. Referrers were predominantly general practitioners rather than specialists, and private practitioners rather than salaried doctors. Tasmanians referred more patients than their counterparts in Victoria and New South Wales. Limitations to this indirect method of data collection are describe