Background: In Mexico, abortion is not penalized when a woman gets pregnant as a result of rape, yet access to abortion services is limited. Understanding physicians' opinions about abortion is critical to creating strategies that will broaden women's access to services.
Study design: Multivariate logistic regression was performed using data collected from a sample of 1206 physicians in Mexico. The influence of independent variables on two outcomes was analyzed: physicians' agreement with abortion being legal in the case of pregnancy caused by rape and willingness to provide abortion services in such cases.
Results: Physicians who had performed legal abortions, knew about existing abortion legislation and practiced general or family medicine were significantly more likely to agree that abortion should be legal when pregnancy is caused by rape and were more likely to be willing to provide abortion in the case of rape. Physicians who held a negative attitude towards women who seek abortion and those with greater church attendance were less likely to agree with the legality of abortion.
Conclusions: Physicians are among the most important gatekeepers to women's access to safe abortion services. A majority of Mexican physicians agree that abortion should not be legally penalized under certain circumstances. Yet, many also hold negative attitudes towards women who seek abortion. Physicians' support for women's access to safe abortion services is key to ensuring that such services will exist in Mexico.