The first survey of attitudes of medical students in Ireland towards termination of pregnancy

Abstract

The majority of participants wanted education regarding abortion. Despite being predominantly prochoice, considerably fewer students, irrespective of nationality, indicated that they would perform abortions.

Attitudes towards abortion in graduate and non-graduate entrants to medical school in Ireland

“…This number is congruent with the results of the previous study of Irish medical students, where 58% of students reported that they would perform or would consider performing a legal abortion in their future careers 10. Similar studies carried out in the USA and Britain found that approximately 50% of students would be willing to perform an abortion 8 14 16…”

“…The majority (92.1%) of students agreed that abortion could be justified in certain clinical situations. This reflects the results seen elsewhere in the literature, where at least 90% of medical students surveyed felt that abortion could be justified in certain situations 10 14…”

“…It consisted of three sections: (a) demographic and educational background [gender, age, year of programme, mode of entry to medicine (DEM, GEM), nationality, religious adherence]; (b) attitudes towards abortion and early life matters (dichotomous response items assessing attitudes regarding moral basis of abortion, circumstances under which it might be justified, willingness to perform a legal abortion when appropriately qualified and trained); (c) status of the unborn (multiple-choice items assessing views regarding gestation time limits for abortion, and when the fetus may be considered ‘human’); and (d) knowledge of current Irish law and about abortion. Face and content validity of the questionnaire content was established via: (a) consultation with healthcare ethics academic staff based in University College Cork and (b) review of questionnaires previously employed to measure attitudes to abortion in medical students 9 10…”

“…The majority (72.8%, n =169) of the total sample characterised their beliefs as moderately/strongly pro-choice 10. Closer examination revealed that their responses were distributed as follows: abortion should not be legally available (7.1%); abortion should be allowed in limited circumstances only (35.5%); abortion should be legally available upon request (55%); and unsure (2.4%).…”

The opinions and experiences of Irish obstetric and gynaecology trainee doctors in relation to abortion services in Ireland

“…The experiences of women who have abortion services have been difficult to research, and previous studies have examined the experiences of healthcare professionals as a reflection of women's experiences 3 18. The experiences of non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology are of particular interest as they will be working under the current PLDPA 2013 for the duration of their careers.…”