Pnm-1: Attitudes to Surrogacy in Women Attending to The Selected Shahrekord Public Health Centers in 1392

Background: There has been little interest in the research literature on public opinions regarding assisted conception and surrogacy, particularly in Iran. Nevertheles, the growing evidence shows that problems in adaptation and coping may be related to perceived normative values. Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study, questionnaires on attitudes to surrogacy were completed by 187 women referring to health centers of Shahrekord-Iran. Results: Significant socio-demographic differences were found between women who were possibly willing (n = 76) and those who were unwilling (n = 111) to become surrogate mothers. General attitudes to surrogacy also differed between groups (p = 0.004). This study differentiated adequately between groups on attitudes to recruitment for surrogacy (p = 0.005), the consequences of surrogacy (p = 0.002), factors that induce people to become surrogates (p = 0.004), social support (p = 0.005), age (p = 0.003) and predicted (UN) willingness to become a potential surrogate mother. Conclusion: Further research is needed with larger sample sizes of potential surrogates to determine whether the predictive attitudes reported here translate to actual behaviors. The larger group which was not interested in considering becoming a surrogate scored significantly more negatively on all attitudes towards surrogacy. The negative attitudes reported by the ‘unwilling to consider being a surrogate’ group may reflect attitudes held by the majority of the population and are likely to be influenced by reports of stigma associated with surrogacy.