[01] Amanda Mah Jean Fung, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia. [02] Renujit Kaur, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia. [03] Siti Nurhayu Binti Kasim, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia. [04] Stefenny Geoffrey, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia. [05] Lye Qiu Ping, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), more than fifty million cases of abortion are performed annually. Increased mortality and morbidity rate due to unsafe abortion has become a major concern in the society. Thus, as future healthcare providers, medical students play an important role in reducing the rate of unsafe abortion. Due to the lack of attention given on abortion education in medical school, this study is aimed to assess their knowledge on abortion and its legality in Malaysia, their attitude towards abortion and their willingness to provide abortion services in their future practice. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students of Melaka Manipal Medical College (MMMC), Malaysia from January to March 2020, with a minimum sample size of 115. Epi Info^TM 7 application was used in this research to calculate the sample size. The sampling method used in this study was non-probability purposive sampling method. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed for data collection. Participation in the study is purely voluntary. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were derived from ANOVA, unpaired t – test and linear regression analysis. Among 117 participants, more than two – thirds of them have low to moderate knowledge and attitude towards abortion. All respondents were willing to anticipate most of the abortion services in their future practice. Knowledge about abortion is not associated with attitude towards abortion and neither is it associated with willingness to provide abortion services in the future practices. However there is a significant association between the attitude towards abortion and the willingness to provide abortion services in upcoming practice.

Abortion, Knowledge, Attitude, Willingness, Medical Students, Cross – Sectional Study

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