Table 3 Physicians’ attitudes toward abortion care. Brazil, 2021–2025.
Attitudes/Region | North (N = 136) n (%) | Northeast (N = 346) n (%) | Southeast (N = 492) n (%) | South (N = 182) n (%) | Midwest (N = 111) n (%) | Brazil (N = 1.267) n (%) | p value a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Agreement with current legislation | |||||||
Sexual violence | 109 (82.3) | 259 (75.4) | 395 (80.6) | 154 (84.9) | 82 (74.0) | 998 (79.4) | 0.013 |
Risk to the woman’s life | 121 (91.7) | 310 (89.9) | 437 (89.5) | 171 (94.1) | 94 (85.1) | 1,133 (90.1) | 0.034 |
Anencephalic pregnancies | 116 (87.4) | 288 (83.7) | 432 (88.3) | 170 (93.5) | 91 (83.2) | 1,097 (87.2) | 0.007 |
Agreement with expanding permissions | |||||||
Other congenital malformations incompatible with life | 112 (83.8) | 274 (79.7) | 410 (83.6) | 163 (89.9) | 89 (80.6) | 1,048 (83.2) | 0.073 |
Contraceptive method failure | 14 (10.3) | 49 (14.4) | 106 (21.7) | 29 (15.9) | 11 (9.8) | 209 (16.6) | < 0.001 |
Financial situation | 12 (9.2) | 48 (13.9) | 106 (21.7) | 29 (15.7) | 12 (10.7) | 207 (16.4) | < 0.001 |
Harm to the woman’s physical and/or psychological health | 52 (38.6) | 133 (38.7) | 239 (48.9) | 82 (45.0) | 44 (40.0) | 550 (43.7) | 0.025 |
Study/work | 11 (8.4) | 45 (13.2) | 87 (17.9) | 23 (12.8) | 13 (11.9) | 180 (14.3) | 0.044 |
Any circumstances | 13 (10.0) | 48 (13.9) | 100 (20.4) | 24 (13.3) | 11 (10.3) | 197 (15.6) | 0.011 |
Opinion on care practices | |||||||
Advantages of medical termination of pregnancy using medications recommended by the WHO: | |||||||
Less need of analgesics | 89 (66.6) | 219 (64.1) | 333 (68.1) | 130 (71.3) | 75 (67.8) | 845 (67.3) | 0.246 |
Non-hospital use | 31 (23.0) | 112 (32.9) | 178 (36.7) | 54 (30.0) | 29 (25.8) | 404 (32.3) | 0.001 |
Disadvantages of medical termination of pregnancy using medications recommended by the WHO: | |||||||
Longer time to resolution | 79 (58.5) | 192 (56.3) | 245 (50.5) | 100 (55.1) | 60 (55.4) | 676 (54.0) | 0.038 |
Advantages of MVA | |||||||
Requires shorter hospital stay | 127 (94.3) | 300 (87.4) | 405 (83.2) | 155 (85.2) | 100 (90.6) | 1,087 (86.4) | 0.117 |
Less need of cervical dilation | 119 (89.8) | 306 (89.6) | 416 (85.0) | 149 (81.9) | 97 (88.4) | 1,087 (86.6) | 0.005 |
Less need of analgesics | 107 (80.9) | 279 (81.7) | 382 (78.1) | 142 (78.2) | 92 (83.1) | 1,002 (79.8) | 0.122 |
Professional conduct regarding women who likely terminated their pregnancies | |||||||
Maintain professional confidentiality | 94 (70.3) | 260 (75.4) | 370 (75.7) | 120 (65.7) | 77 (69.5) | 921 (73.1) | 0.111 |
Claim of conscientious objection to not performing a legal abortion | |||||||
Only when another professional is available | 67 (51.3) | 165 (47.8) | 205 (41.8) | 80 (44.1) | 50 (45.6) | 567 (45.1) | 0.247 |
