title: Mother's freedom of choice and the rights of an unborn child: a comparison between the views of freshmen and senior medical school students.
abstract: To compare the views of freshman students with senior students of the Faculty of Medicine- University of São Paulo concerning the respect for the mother's freedom of choice, the need to protect the unborn child, the proportionality between the mother's freedom of choice and the protection of the unborn child, and issues related to legal abortion. To determine whether the medical knowledge acquired throughout the academic years can influence the views of medical students on these issues.
  First- and sixth-year students of the Faculty of Medicine - University of São Paulo answered a questionnaire; the inclusion criteria were as follows: a first- or sixth-year student of the medical school and a signature on the free informed consent form. To compare the proportions, a chi-square or Fisher's exact test was used. The significance level was set to 5%.
  Regarding the mother's freedom of choice, in the case when a pregnant woman undergoes a cesarean section by means of a court order despite her intention to not have a cesarean, 55.7% of the first-year students have answered that the mother's choice should be respected. Among the sixth-year students, only 28.9% believe that the mother's intention should be considered (p<0.0001). With reference to the mother's choice in connection with antiretroviral medication, 38.1% of the first-year students agreed that the mother's intention should be respected, whereas 33% of sixth-year students believed that the mother's intention should be respected (p=0.453).
  There was a tendency to consider the unborn child's rights over the mother's choice as students spent more time in medical school.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Departamento de Ginecologia e Obstetricia, São Paulo/SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcelo Shigueo Yosikawa
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Motoki
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Departamento de Ginecologia e Obstetricia, São Paulo/SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fabio Roberto
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Cabar
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Departamento de Ginecologia e Obstetricia, São Paulo/SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rossana Pulcineli Vieira
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Francisco
mesh_terms: D000029:Abortion, Legal / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001938:Brazil; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D005610:Freedom; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006806:Human Rights / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D037841:Pregnant People; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult