Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jul 26;23(1):533.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-023-04526-4.

Knowledge, attitude, and intended practice of abortion among pharmacy students in Thailand after the amendment of the Thai Abortion Law

Ratthapong Rongkapich  1 , Rada Poolkumlung  1 , Natchanika Sinthuchai  2 , Phobsan Limsirorat  3 , Nattaporn Chiemchaisri  4 , Somsook Santibenchakul  5   6 , Unnop Jaisamrarn  7
Affiliations

Knowledge, attitude, and intended practice of abortion among pharmacy students in Thailand after the amendment of the Thai Abortion Law

Ratthapong Rongkapich et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: The recently amended Thai abortion law allows pregnant women to undergo abortions up to the gestational age of 12 weeks. Medical abortion is significant because it has revolutionized access to safe abortion care-abortion medicine can now be safely and effectively administered outside of a healthcare facility to women in early pregnancy. This contribution supports the pharmacists' role in interprofessional safe abortion teamwork. Adequate knowledge of the current laws regarding safe abortion services will increase pharmacists' competence in providing services. However, safe abortions as a subject have not been formally incorporated into the curriculum for Thai pharmacy students. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and intended practice of fifth-year pharmacy students at Chulalongkorn University.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an electronic self-administered questionnaire adapted from previously published studies to evaluate participants' knowledge of the recently amended Thai abortion law, attitude toward abortion, and intended practices. The invitations were sent to all fifth-year pharmacy students at Chulalongkorn University.

Results: Among all invitations sent, 104/150 (69.3%) participants responded to the survey. Only a third of the participants (31.7%) had good knowledge scores. Based on five questions regarding the gestational age limit for legal abortion, most participants (52.7%) answered questions incorrectly. Although more than half of the participants (52.5%) disagreed with two pro-choice statements, an overwhelming majority (87.5%) agreed that abortion was a woman's right. Safe abortion services were mostly agreed upon with serious fetal defects (91.9%), non-HIV maternal health conditions (82.2%), and sexual assaults (77.4%). A positive attitude toward abortion affects the intention to perform an abortion under socioeconomic conditions.

Conclusion: Most participants lacked knowledge on the amended abortion law, especially on the gestational limits of abortion. Participants with favorable attitudes toward abortion tended to be more liberal regarding safe abortion services.

Keywords: Attitude; Knowledge; Medical abortion; Pharmacy students; Practice.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Health Bureau of Reproductive Health. Abortion surveillance report, Thailand. Reproductive Health Database. 2018. https://rh.anamai.moph.go.th/web-upload/7x027006c2abe84e89b5c85b44a692da.... Accessed 1 January 2023.
    1. Faúndes A, Shah IH. Evidence supporting broader access to safe legal abortion. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2015;131(Suppl 1):56–9. doi: 10.1016/j.ijgo.2015.03.018. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ganatra B, Guest P, Berer M. Expanding access to medical abortion: challenges and opportunities. Reprod Health Matters. 2015;22(Suppl 1):1–3. - PubMed
    1. Chemlal S, Russo G. Why do they take the risk? A systematic review of the qualitative literature on informal sector abortions in settings where abortion is legal. BMC Womens Health. 2019;19:55. doi: 10.1186/s12905-019-0751-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Act Amending the Penal Code. (No. 28), 2564 BE - Wikisource, the free online library. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Act_Amending_the_Penal_Code_(No._28),_2564_BE. Accessed 1 January 2023.