ArticleBMC medical education2021
What should medical students be taught about abortion? An evaluation of student attitudes towards their abortion teaching and their future involvement in abortion care.
Article in BMC medical education, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Healthcare professionals' and students' willingness to perform abortion: A systematic review and meta-analysis, 2014-2025.Women's health (London, England)Pooled it
- Knowledge on Unsafe Abortion and Associated Factors Among Medical Female Undergraduates at the University of Dodoma, Dodoma, Tanzania: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Medical education and abortion care: evaluating an interdisciplinary learning module in Germany.Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2026Article
- Ethical Considerations of Abortion Education in Undergraduate Catholic Medical Institutions.The Linacre quarterly · 2025Article
- Abortion learning mechanisms for nurses and midwives: a scoping review of evidence.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2025Article
- Abortion stigma in healthcare: physicians' perspectives.BMC medical ethics · 2025Article
- Evaluation of the reproductive health curriculum at medical schools in Germany: an insight into medical students' knowledge and opinion towards emergency contraception and abortion - a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Pharmacist Dispensing of Mifepristone: Evaluation of Knowledge and Support Before and After a Continuing Education Course.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- "I'm Pregnant, What Do I Do?": Exploring How People Having Abortions in Britain Find and Use Online Sources of Information.Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health · 2025Article
- What do medical students think about conscientious objection? A cross-sectional study from Turkey.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Methodological report of a cross-sectional survey of abortion-related knowledge, attitudes and practices amongst health professionals in Britain, strategies adopted and lessons learned: evidence from the SACHA Study.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Family planning competency following medical school Ob/Gyn clerkships at faith-based and secular sites.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- International support for abortion education in medical schools: results of a global online survey to explore abortion willingness, intentions, and attitudes among medical students in 85 countries.Frontiers in global women's health · 2024Article
- Medical student-led implementation of preclinical abortion didactic session at a California medical school.BMC medical education · 2023Article
- Development of the Inclination Toward Conscientious Objection Scale for Physicians.Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy · 2023Article
- Predictors of Abortion Attitudes in Medical Students After the Reversal of Roe v. Wade.Cureus · 2023Article
- Abortion in Countries with Restrictive Abortion Laws-Possible Directions and Solutions from the Perspective of Poland.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Self-assessment of attitudes towards conditions to provide safe abortion among new medical graduates in Thailand, 2018: an application of cross-sectional survey with factor analysis.BMC women's health · 2021Article
- Knowledge, Moral Attitude, and Practice of Nursing Students Toward Abortion.Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financingArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOne in three women in the United Kingdom (UK) will have an abortion before age 45, making abortion provision an essential aspect of reproductive healthcare. Despite this, abortion remains ethically contested and stigmatised, with variable teaching in UK medical schools and concerns about falling numbers of doctors willing to participate in abortion care. University College London Medical School (UCLMS) has designed practical, inclusive, teaching that aims to give students an understanding of the importance of abortion care and prepare them to be competent practitioners in this area. This study aimed to determine students' opinions of this teaching and their wider attitudes towards abortion.
methodsWe invited all 357 final-year UCL medical students to complete an online survey consisting of closed-ended questions, exploring their opinions on their abortion teaching, their personal beliefs about abortion and their future willingness to be involved in abortion care. We analysed responses using non-parametric tests.
resultsOne hundred and forty-six questionnaires (41% response rate) showed 83% of students identified as pro-choice (agree with the right to choose an abortion). Fifty-seven percent felt they received the right amount of abortion teaching, 39% would have liked more and 4% stated they received too much. There was no correlation between students' attitudes to abortion and the rating of teaching; both pro-choice and pro-life (opposed to the right to choose an abortion) students generally rated the teaching as important and valued the range of methods used. Students requested more simulated practice speaking to patients requesting an abortion. Students with pro-life beliefs expressed lower willingness to discuss, refer, certify and provide future abortions. Students interested in careers in specialties where they may encounter abortion were more likely to be pro-choice than pro-life.
conclusionsThe majority of participating UCL medical students were pro-choice and willing to be involved in future abortion care. Efforts to make teaching on abortion practical, engaging, sensitive and inclusive were appreciated. As well as preparing students to be competent and caring practitioners, the teaching appears to contribute towards them viewing abortion as an essential aspect of women's healthcare, and may contribute to destigmatising abortion.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.