Men's attitude toward abortion legislation in Ethiopia

In 2005, a new criminal code -- permitting abortion in specific circumstances -- was enacted to align Ethiopia's legal system with the country's updated Constitution. Despite its significant impact on reproductive health, there have been no studies examining men's attitudes toward Ethiopia's abortion law. We conducted a community-based cross-sectional study among 406 sexually active men from 10 June to 30 October 2023 and found that only 26.6% of men expressed positive attitude toward Ethiopia's abortion law (CI: 21.3%-30.2%). Men who support the law tend to be to be younger, better educated, never married or married at older age, and have an income above 2000ETB. These findings should inform policymakers changes regarding male involvement in decisions about accessing safe abortion services.