Knowledge and attitudes towards abortion among medical students at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

As unsafe abortion is one of the main causes for maternal mortality in Argentina it is important to secure legal abortion to those entitled to it. Physicians lack of knowledge of the law and how to act when a woman requests abortion, is one of the major obstacles that can prevent a woman from getting safe abortion and making her turn to an unsafe option. Our conclusion is that the medial students today have inadequate knowledge of the present abortion law. Thus measures have to be taken by the Faculty of Medicine of University of Buenos Aires to ensure that the students do not end up as physicians without knowledge of which patients who are entitled to legal abortion.