The abstract versus the concrete: differing opinions of medical residents in obstetrics and gynaecology about abortion and punishment of abortion

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the opinions of Brazilian medical residents in Obstetrics and Gynaecology on abortion legislation according to their personal beliefs.

Material and methods: A multicentre cross-sectional study. Residents at 21 university teaching hospitals completed a self-report questionnaire on their opinions in abstract terms, and about punishing women who abort in general and women they know.

Results: In abstract terms, 8% favoured allowing abortion under any circumstances (fully liberal); 36% under socioeconomic or psychological constraints (broadly liberal); 75.3% opposed punishing a woman who has aborted (liberal in general practice); and 90.2% opposed punishing women they knew personally (liberal in personal practice). Not having a stable partner and not being influenced by religion were factors associated with liberal opinions. In personal practice, however, 80% of those who are influenced by religion were liberal. The percentage of respondents whose opinions were liberal was significantly greater among those who believed that abortion rates would remain the same or decrease following liberalisation.

Conclusions: Judgements regarding the penalisation of women who abort are strongly influenced by how close the respondent is to the problem. Accurate information on abortion needs to be provided. Although about one third of the respondents were broadly liberal, the majority oppose punishment.

Keywords:

• Legal abortion
• medical abortion
• knowledge
• medical residents
• Brazil

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to all the residents in Obstetrics and Gynaecology who participated in this study by freely giving their views, and to the maternity hospitals located in the four different geographical regions of Brazil that provided the services described in this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Contributions

A. Faúndes and R.C. Pacagnella led the study from its conceptualisation, organising the data collection and data analysis, and writing the paper. G.A. Duarte and M.J.D. Osis contributed to the conceptualisation and planning of the study and participated in the critical review of the manuscript at all stages up to its final approval. S.F. Bento, K.G. Fernandes, K.S. de Pádua, I.D. Fahl and D.M. Araújo contributed to the analysis and interpretation of the data and participated in the preparation of the manuscript and its critical review at all stages until its final approval.

Collaborators in The Brazilian Abortion Study Group

Carlos Augusto Santos de Menezes, Claudio Sérgio Medeiros Paiva, Dênis José do Nascimento, Edilberto Alves Pereira Rocha da Silva, Elaine Christine Dantas Moisés, Fátima Aparecida Henrique Lotufo, Fernando Artur Carvalho Bastos, Francisco Edson de Lucena Feitosa, Francisco José Machado Viana, Francisco Lázaro Pereira de Sousa, Ione Rodrigues Brum, Joaquim Luiz de Castro Moreira, Marcelo Marques de Souza Lima, Mario Dias Corrêa Júnior, Marla Niag dos Santos Rocha, Nelson Sass, Olímpio Barbosa de Moraes Filho, Rosiane Mattar, Silvana Maria Quintana, Vera Therezinha Medeiros Borges, and Yalli Coelho.

Additional information

Funding

This study received financial support from the São Paulo Foundation for the Support of Research (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo - FAPESP), under reference 2012/23129-6.