Background: One of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is to reduce maternal mortality. Objective: To determine knowledge, attitudes and practices of health professionals regarding abortion. Design: Cross-sectional type of survey. Methods: During 2017, the Ecuadorian Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Society - FESGO applied a survey to 132 health professionals to determine their knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding abortion. Results: We identified more nonpunishable abortion causes than those the law recognizes. The most frequent of these were rape (21%) and congenital malformations (13%). 83% of respondents agreed that law should allow ending a pregnancy if the woman’s life were at risk and 46% if her health was at risk. 61% of them agreed if the fetus had a congenital malformation. In addition, 46% agreed if it was the product of rape of a disabled woman, 40% if it was...

Objectives: To determine knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding abortion in an intentioned sample of obstetrician/gynecologists who are provincial leaders of the Federación de Sociedades de Ginecología y Obstetricia del Ecuador (FESGO). Design: Prospective, correlational, cross-sectional, and analytical survey. Setting: Federación de Sociedades de Ginecología y Obstetricia del Ecuador (FESGO). Participants: FESGO obstetrician/gynecologists provincial leaders. Methods: A structured and validated survey was applied to an intentional sample of 33 obstetrician/gynecologists. The survey was based on experiences in the region, general and demographic information of the respondent, theoretical knowledge about the epidemiology of abortion and maternal death, attitudes about the management of unsafe abortion, and practice on misoprostol prescription and surgical aspiration. Main outcome...