Table 4 Physicians’ practices in abortion care. Brazil, 2021–2025.
Practices/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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Existence of a clinical guideline for abortion care | 72 (54.7) | 169 (49.5) | 338 (69.1) | 117 (64.3) | 61 (55.6) | 757 (60.4) | < 0.001 |
Team use of the clinical guideline b | 0.002 | ||||||
Always | 31 (42.4) | 79 (46.9) | 217 (64.4) | 71 (60.8) | 37 (59.5) | 435 (57.4) | |
Occasionally | 38 (53.4) | 79 (47.0) | 112 (33.1) | 39 (33.1) | 22 (36.4) | 291 (38.4) | |
Never/Dont´t know | 3 (4.2) | 10 (6.1) | 9 (2.5) | 7 (6.0) | 2 (4.1) | 31 (4.1) | |
Availability of MVA | < 0.001 | ||||||
Always | 37 (27.2) | 135 (39.1) | 206 (41.9) | 58 (31.8) | 72 (64.7) | 508 (40.1) | |
Occasionally | 56 (41.1) | 77 (22.2) | 92 (18.6) | 39 (21.4) | 15 (13.2) | 278 (21.9) | |
Never/Dont´t know | 43 (31.7) | 134 (38.7) | 194 (39.5) | 85 (46.7) | 25 (22.1) | 481 (38.0) | |
Use of MVA when available c | 89 (96.4) | 196 (93.7) | 271 (91.2) | 83 (85.9) | 80 (93.6) | 719 (92.1) | 0.066 |
Use of electric aspiration if MVA is not available | 19 (14.0) | 28 (8.0) | 39 (7.9) | 11 (6.2) | 6 (5.7) | 103 (8.2) | 0.095 |
Has ever cared for women who likely terminated their pregnancies | 116 (86.5) | 303 (88.2) | 421 (86.5) | 157 (86.2) | 91 (83.0) | 1,087 (86.6) | 0.539 |
Feeling towards women who likely terminated their pregnancies d | 0.006 | ||||||
Empathy | 57 (49.3) | 128 (42.8) | 210 (50.3) | 64 (41.0) | 38 (41.8) | 497 (46.0) | |
Recrimination/Indifference/Ambivalence | 54 (47.4) | 144 (48.4) | 196 (46.8) | 88 (56.0) | 46 (51.1) | 528 (49.0) | |
Not informed | 4 (3.3) | 26 (8.9) | 12 (2.9) | 5 (3.0) | 6 (7.1) | 53 (5.0) | |
Conduct towards women who likely terminated their pregnancies d | 0.033 | ||||||
Keeps confidentiality | 93 (80.7) | 274 (90.6) | 358 (86.2) | 129 (82.4) | 72 (78.8) | 926 (85.7) | |
Report to the legal authorities (always or in some cases) | 19 (16.3) | 19 (6.4) | 44 (10.6) | 21 (13.6) | 13 (14.0) | 116 (10.8) | |
Not informed | 4 (3.0) | 9 (3.0) | 13 (3.2) | 6 (4.0) | 7 (7.3) | 39 (3.6) | |
Women hospitalized for abortion suffer prejudice | 0.391 | ||||||
No | 89 (64.7) | 230 (66.5) | 325 (66.1) | 123 (67.7) | 66 (59.4) | 833 (66.4) | |
Yes (from some or most professionals) | 23 (16.6) | 40 (11.6) | 75 (15.2) | 18 (10.0) | 19 (17.3) | 175 (13.8) | |
Don´t know | 25 (18.7) | 76 (21.9) | 92 (18.7) | 40 (22.2) | 26 (23.3) | 259 (20.5) |
