A FACULDADE DE MEDICINA INFLUENCIA A OPINÃO DOS ESTUDANTES SOBRE O ABORTO?

Summary A survey conducted among 453 medical students enrolled in the first ten semesters at the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, RS, Brazil, showed that 7.2% were completely against abortion, 17,8% positioned themselves as totally favorable, and the remaining 75% admitted abortive practices under special circumstances. Variable associated with a more liberal opinion about abortion were: increased age, longer attendance to the Faculty of Medicine, sexual experience and contraceptive practices, personal experience with abortion situations, and agnosticism. lt is possible that the effect of the Faculty of Medicine on the liberalization of opinion about abortion may be independent from the other variables, as this effect became even stronger after adjusting for possible confounding variables, through logistic regression analysis.