Shock University of Limerick Study: Most medical students want abortion on demand, fewer would perform it

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Both the Journal and the Sunday Times report on a study carried out by the University of Limerick on the attitude of medical students to the availability and performance of abortion in Ireland.

 

According to the Journal over half of all medical students in Ireland believe abortion should be legally available upon request, but 29% would decline to carry it out. The Sunday Times on the other hand says, about the same study, 'New Survey Shows 1-In-3 Doctors Would Refuse To Carry Out Abortions'.

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The Journal report reads:

Seven per cent of the 169 respondents to the University of Limerick study believe abortion should not be legally available, 35 per cent said it should be allowed in limited circumstances only, while the majority, 55 per cent, think abortion should be legally available upon request.

Almost all those surveyed (95.2 per cent) believed that education on abortion should be offered within medical school curricula.

However, 29 per cent said they would decline to terminate pregnancies even if legally permitted,  59 per cent indicated that they might perform legal abortions once qualified, while 25 per cent would do so under limited circumstances only.

Over 72 per cent of the respondents were pro-choice, while those over 30 years of age were found to be less likely to hold this view.

The first report of its kind in Ireland by the University of Limerick was carried out to find what medical students’ attitudes are towards abortion in Ireland.

The Sunday Times article says:

New Survey Shows 1-In-3 Doctors Would Refuse To Carry Out Abortions

A new survey of graduate doctors suggests that almost one in three would refuse to carry out abortions even if legally permitted to do so.

Details of the poll found that of the 169 graduates medial students surveyed by the University of Limerick in 2012, nearly 19 per cent of graduates described themselves as moderately or strongly pro-life.

While, almost 29 per-cent said they would not perform an abortion even if there was a change in the law.

Over 95 per-cent of the Limerick students surveyed believed education on abortion should be offered within the medial curriculum -representing a similar finding to other international studies.

  

Researchers at UL, say this is the first survey of its type conducted in Ireland among medical professionals.