Acceptance and attitude of Lebanese lawyers and medical students toward surrogate pregnancy: a cross-sectional study

Reproductive Health

Research

Rashad Nawfal¹  Marly Azzi¹  Jad Kassem¹  Lubna Tarabey²  Fadi Abou-Mrad²  Antony Haddad³  Lea Nicole Sayegh³  Pascale Salameh⁴ 

[1] Division of Medical Ethics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon;Division of Medical Ethics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon;Memory Clinic, Division of Neurology, Saint Charles Hospital, Fayadieh, Lebanon;Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon;Épidémiologie Clinique et Toxicologie-Liban, INSPECT-LB: Institut National de Santé Publique, Beirut, Lebanon;Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University of Nicosia Medical School, Nicosia, Cyprus;Faculty of Pharmacy, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon;

关键词: Ethics;    Law;    Surrogacy;    Pregnancy;    Lawyers;    Medical Students;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12978-023-01638-4

 received in 2023-03-02, accepted in 2023-06-13,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundLittle is known about the acceptance of specific populations of decision makers in Lebanon regarding surrogacy. This study aimed to explore the acceptance and attitude of Lebanese Lawyers and Medical Students regarding surrogacy.MethodsIn total 248 medical students and 204 lawyers completed a questionnaire to assess socio-demographic data, attitude toward surrogacy, and three different clinical scenarios to assess patterns of thinking. Finally, we validated a scale to assess the acceptance of surrogacy in these two populations.ResultsConcerning medical students, 54.8% reported they were supportive of surrogacy, 35.1% were neutral and 10.1% were against. For lawyers, 52.9% were supportive, 25% were neutral and 22.1% were against. Lawyers were more likely to be against surrogacy (p = 0.001).After conducting a multivariate analysis on the whole studied population to find predictors of acceptance of surrogacy, the best predictors were being single (OR 0.415; 95% CI 0.228, 0.753; p < 0.01), a supportive reported attitude regarding surrogacy (OR 5.464; 95% CI 3.65, 8.13; p < 0.001) and believing that surrogacy is a solution worth discussing in Lebanon (OR 4.186; 95% CI 1.709, 10.256; p < 0.01).Concerning the clinical scenarios, they showed that lawyers were more likely to oppose abortion regardless of the reason (p < 0.01). Also, in a case of gestational surrogacy, lawyers were more likely to give the right to the gestational carrier to keep the baby compared to medical students (p < 0.001).ConclusionIn conclusion, this study shows that only a minority of medical students and lawyers in Lebanon oppose surrogate pregnancy which warrants exploration of the perspective of other populations of decision makers in Lebanon to better guide legislations.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023