Knowledge and Attitude towards Safe Abortion amongst Undergraduate Girl Students in a Town in South India: Findings from an Institutional Based Survey

Abstract Introduction: Globally, around 45% of all abortions are unsafe abortions. The objectives of this study were to assess the knowledge and attitude towards safe abortion amongst girl students and to determine the factors associated with it. Materials and Methods: A study was conducted among 407 girl students. The study tool was a questionnaire. To find the significant association between the groups, the Chi-square test was applied ( P ≤ 0.05). Results: Nearly, half of the participants were 18 years of age. Regarding safe abortion, 64% possessed overall good knowledge and 45% had favourable attitude. Factors significantly associated with good knowledge and favourable attitude towards safe abortion were religion, parents’ educational status and type of college ( P ≤ 0.05). Conclusions: In our study, 2/3 rd of the students had overall good knowledge, but the favourable attitude towards safe abortion was nearly half. Therefore, by implementing comprehensive education programs, we can improve the knowledge and favourable attitude.