Knowledge and perception of medical students on legal abortion

Abstract Abortion is a frequent practice in Brazil and a major cause of maternal mortality. Even under legal conditions, women face many barriers to access the procedure, often related to physicians’ unfamiliarity with the legislation. This article assess the knowledge of medical students from Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia of Universidade Federal da Bahia about the laws that regulate abortion in Brazil and their perception on the topic. This qualitative cross-sectional study analyzed data collected from a questionnaire answered by 237 students. Although the participants showed adequate theoretical knowledge of legal aspects, discrepant and incorrect answers were observed when asked about law enforcement in situations of legal abortion care, showing that education focused on the topic is required using multidisciplinary and transversal discussions during the medical course. Finally, we observed that participants tended to favor decriminalization of abortion.

摘要 堕胎在巴西是一种常见行为，同时也是孕产妇死亡的主要诱因之一。即便在合法合规的情形下，女性仍面临诸多获取该手术的障碍，这类障碍往往源于医师对相关法律法规的不熟悉。本文评估了巴伊亚联邦大学（Universidade Federal da Bahia）下属巴伊亚医学院（Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia）的医学生对巴西堕胎监管法规的认知情况，以及他们对该议题的态度。本项定性横断面研究对237名学生填写的问卷数据进行了分析。尽管参与者在法律相关理论知识方面表现合格，但当被问及合法堕胎诊疗场景下的法律执行问题时，出现了不一致且错误的回答，这表明在医学课程中需开展针对该议题的多学科、跨领域讨论式教育。最后，我们发现参与者倾向于支持堕胎非刑事化。