Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #109302

Lisa A. Goldman, MPH, Department of Epidemiology, University of California, Berkeley, 140 Warren Hall #7360, Berkeley, CA 94720, Sandra G. Garcia, ScM, ScD, Director of Reproductive Health for Latin America and the Caribbean, Population Council, Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean - Mexico City, c/o One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY 10017, 001-5255-5999-8630, sgarcia@popcouncil.org.mx, Juan Diaz, MD, PhD, Population Council, One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY 10017, and Eileen A. Yam, MPH, Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Population Council, Panzacola 62 Int 102, Col Villa Coyoacan, Mexico City 04000, Mexico.

Context: Abortion is legal in Brazil in cases of rape or if pregnancy poses a risk to the woman's life. Judicial approval of abortions in cases of fetal malformations may be granted at a judge's discretion. Since summer 2004, there has been a legal struggle in Brazil regarding whether to remove the requirement for judicial approval in cases of anencephalic fetuses. We sought to document the abortion knowledge, attitudes, and practices of a national random sample of Brazilian obstetrician-gynecologists.

Methods: We conducted a mail-in survey with a 10% random sample of obstetrician-gynecologists affiliated with the Brazilian Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. We used chi-square tests and multivariate regression to determine characteristics of physicians in support of a more liberal abortion law.

Results: Forty-eight percent of respondents had accurate knowledge about abortion law and 77% thought that the law should be liberalized. One-third had ever performed an abortion, and very few of these physicians reported having experience with manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) (10%) or with misoprostol with either mifepristone (2%) or methotrexate (3%). One hundred (53%) of the physicians who reported ever having performed an abortion said that the abortion was a case of severe fetal malformation. Those who had correct knowledge of abortion law, identified as Catholic, and supported public funding of legal abortions were more likely to favor liberalized abortion laws.

Conclusions: Abortion opinions and practices of Brazilian providers are more liberal than what is codified in the law, and they need more information on abortion laws and procedures.

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