North Carolina Medical Student Views on Abortion

BACKGROUND Abortion is a controversial yet common procedure within the United States and North Carolina. Although much effort has been directed at understanding the views of physicians and the general public, the views of medical students on abortion are understudied. This study examines the views of medical students at different stages in training on abortion at a public institution, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.METHODS We surveyed incoming, second year, fourth year, and leave-of-absence medical students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill about their views on abortion. We utilized an IRB-approved, anonymous online Qualtrics-based, cross-sectional survey during the spring of 2014.RESULTS We received 315 responses (58% response rate) from 98 incoming (54.5%), 126 second year (70.0%), and 91 fourth year and leave-of-absence (49.2%) students. The majority of students, regardless of stage of training, felt abortion was morally acceptable (incoming 64.3%, second year 74.0%, and fourth year and leave-of-absence 70.0%). Of the students who found abortion to be acceptable, second year (80.9%) and fourth year and leave-of-absence (85.5%) students found second-trimester abortion more acceptable than incoming students (57.15%, P = .002); second year students (42.2%) had greater acceptability of third-trimester abortions compared to incoming (26.2%) and fourth year and leave-of-absence students (22.2%; P = .03). Religiosity and Republican political affiliation were associated with more conservative views on abortion (P = .002); however, gender or intention to enter into an obstetrics/gynecology residency were not.LIMITATIONS Our study reflects views from a single institution, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. This limits the generalizability of our findings to the greater population of medical students across the country.CONCLUSION Despite the controversy surrounding abortion, our work suggests that medical students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have accepting views of abortion.