Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39500558›Full record

ArticleBMJ sexual & reproductive health2025

Attitudes towards the regulation and provision of abortion among healthcare professionals in Britain: cross-sectional survey data from the SACHA Study.

Kaye Wellings, Rachel H Scott, Sally Sheldon, Ona McCarthy, Melissa J Palmer, Jill Shawe, Rebecca Meiksin, Maria Lewandowska, Sharon T Cameron, Jennifer Reiter and 3 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ sexual & reproductive health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Kaye WellingsDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK Kaye.Wellings@lshtm.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1053-8640
Rachel H ScottDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0304-823X
Sally SheldonUniversity of Bristol Law School, Bristol, UK.
Ona McCarthyDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9902-6248
Melissa J PalmerDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Jill ShaweInstitute of Health and Community, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2766-7302
Rebecca MeiksinDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Maria LewandowskaDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3012-1132
Sharon T CameronReproductive and Developmental Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1168-2276
Jennifer ReiterLambeth Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK.
Rebecca S FrenchDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1962-5022
SACHA Study Team
SACHA study team

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo gather views of healthcare professionals on the regulation and provision of abortion in Britain.

methodsCross-sectional, stratified cluster sample survey of healthcare professionals working in a range of healthcare services including abortion services. Measures included knowledge of and attitudes towards the regulation and provision of abortion.

resultsA total of 771 healthcare professionals responded. More than nine in ten supported abortion being a woman's choice and a clear majority favoured abortion being treated as a health rather than a legal issue. Some 6.2% saw abortion at any gestational age as contrary to personal beliefs and a similarly small minority (6.7%) opposed abortion after 12 weeks' gestation. One in five of all healthcare professionals and a third of those aged under 30 years were unaware that the law in Britain requires two doctors to authorise an abortion. Free-text comments revealed opposition to the need for this legal requirement. Support for an extended role for nurses in abortion care was high; 65.3% agreed that nurses should be able to prescribe abortion medication. Little more than a third of all healthcare professionals (37.0%) agreed that abortion should be standard practice in their service; the proportion was highest among those in sexual and reproductive health services (58.4%) and lowest among those in general practice (18.7%).

conclusionsHealthcare professionals in Britain were generally supportive of abortion being treated in the same way as other health issues and would be likely to support any moves to decriminalise abortion.

Indexed as

Abortion, InducedAbortion, LegalAttitude of Health PersonnelHealth PersonnelAdultCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPregnancySurveys and QuestionnairesUnited Kingdomabortion, inducedHealth PolicyHealth Services ResearchReproductive Health ServicesSexual Healthsurveys and questionnaires

Identifiers

PMID39500558
PMCPMC12013582

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.