Background: In Sweden women has the right to abortion until pregnancy week 18, as long
as there’s no risk for her life. Abortion after pregnancy week 18 require a permit from The
National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen). The law regarding abortion varies a
lot around the world. Approximately 45 million abortions are performed annually around the
world. It’s estimated that half of them are performed illegally.
Aim: To describe nurse's attitude towards induced abortion and to describe the survey group
in the included articles.
Method: A literature review with a descriptive design. The articles were searched in the
database PubMed and Cinahl and resulted in 14 articles that was included in the study.
Main results: It occurred both negative and positive attitude among nurses towards induced
abortion. Negative attitude were shown through the nurses conception of life, religious belief
as well as repeated abortions. In some cases this was shown through discrimination of the
patients. Positive attitude was shown through the nurses conviction of women's right to
abortion. An equal and non-judgemental care was emphasized. The nurses had different
methods to cope with the situation and perform an adequate job with regard for the patient's
best.
Conclusion: Nurses attitudes may affect women’s experience of health care in a positive or
negative direction. Knowledge of the occurring attitudes among staff involved in induced
abortion give nurses an opportunity to reflect on their own attitude.