Knowledge and attitudes of Swedish politicians concerning induced abortion

Objective Induced abortion is more frequent in Sweden than in many other Western countries. We wanted to investigate attitudes and knowledge about induced abortion among politicians responsible for healthcare in three Swedish counties. Method A study-specific questionnaire was sent to all 375 elected politicians in three counties; 192 (51%) responded. Results The politicians stated that they were knowledgeable about the Swedish abortion law. More than half did not consider themselves, in their capacity as politicians, sufficiently informed about abortion-related matters. Most politicians (72%) considered induced abortion to be primarily a 'women's rights issue' rather than an ethical one, and 54% considered 12 weeks' gestational age an adequate upper limit for induced abortion. Only about a third of the respondents were correctly informed about the number of induced abortions annually carried out in Sweden. Conclusion Information and knowledge on induced abortion among Swedish county politicians seem not to be optimal. Changes aimed at reducing the current high abortion rates will probably not be easy to achieve as politicians seem to be reluctant to commit themselves on ethical issues and consider induced abortion mainly a women's rights issue.