Demographic characteristics of respondents.

Ghana amended its abortion law to permit abortion under certain circumstances due to the impacts of unsafe abortion. Even though the abortion law in Ghana is liberal, most women do not utilize the services. Studies have shown that lack of knowledge and attitude towards abortion laws are the barriers deterring women from using safe abortion services. This study, therefore, assessed the knowledge and attitudes of future female health professionals towards Ghana’s abortion law. This was an institutional-based cross-sectional study among 240 female students undertaking undergraduate courses at the Fred Newton Binka School of Public Health (FNBSPH), the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ghana. Knowledge was measured with 9 items using yes or no responses while Attitude was measured using a five-point Likert scale with 14 items. Factors associated with poor knowledge among the students were determined using logistic regression. All analyses were done using STATA version 16.0. Of the 240 participants, 24 (10%) reported ever being pregnant. Among these pregnancies, 20 (83.3%) ended in abortions, with 15 (75%) of them unsafely done. The majority (53.3%) of the students knew the conditions under which abortion is allowed in Ghana and most (61.7%) of them had positive attitudes towards the abortion legislation in the country. The year of study (aOR: 0.06; 95%CI: 0.01–0.23), residential status (aOR: 0.44; 95%CI: 0.20–0.74) and poor attitude towards the abortion law (Aor:0.46; 95% CI: 0.26–0.82) were associated with poor abortion law knowledge among the students. This study has demonstrated that knowledge and attitude towards Ghana’s abortion legislation among the students was fairly good. Students’ year of study, residential status and attitude towards the abortion law were also found associated with poor knowledge of Ghana’s abortion law. Increasing young women’s knowledge of the abortion law may lead to more favourable attitudes towards abortion, improving the utilization of safe and legal abortion services.

鉴于不安全堕胎带来的诸多危害，加纳修订了堕胎法律，允许在特定情形下实施堕胎。尽管加纳的堕胎法律已趋于宽松，但多数女性仍未使用相关堕胎服务。已有研究表明，对堕胎法律的认知不足与态度偏差，是阻碍女性获取安全堕胎服务的主要因素。因此，本研究旨在评估未来女性卫生从业者对加纳堕胎法律的认知与态度。本研究为基于机构的横断面研究，研究对象为加纳卫生与联合健康科学大学（University of Health and Allied Sciences, UHAS）弗雷德·牛顿·宾卡公共卫生学院（Fred Newton Binka School of Public Health, FNBSPH）的240名在读女本科生。认知情况通过9道是非题进行评估，态度则采用包含14个条目、基于5级李克特量表的问卷进行测量。采用逻辑回归分析，识别与学生堕胎法律认知不足相关的影响因素；所有数据分析均使用STATA 16.0软件完成。240名受访学生中，24人（10%）自述曾有妊娠经历。其中20例（83.3%）以堕胎告终，且15例（75%）为不安全堕胎。多数学生（53.3%）知晓加纳合法堕胎的适用情形，且大部分学生（61.7%）对该国堕胎立法持有积极态度。研究发现，就读学年（调整后优势比adjusted odds ratio, aOR=0.06；95%置信区间CI：0.01~0.23）、居住状况（aOR=0.44；95%CI：0.20~0.74）以及对堕胎法律的消极态度（aOR=0.46；95%CI：0.26~0.82）与学生堕胎法律认知不足显著相关。本研究结果显示，受访学生对加纳堕胎立法的认知与态度整体尚可；就读学年、居住状况及对堕胎法律的态度，同样与学生堕胎法律认知不足存在关联。提升年轻女性对堕胎法律的认知，有助于塑造更积极的堕胎相关态度，进而推动合法安全堕胎服务的可及性与利用率。