OBJECTIVES: Abortion laws across the globe and in Nigeria have in recent times drawn so much attention both from the pro-choice and pro-life groups. This study sought to assess the knowledge of abortion and perception towards legalization of abortion in Nigeria among students in the University of Nigeria Nsukka.

METHODS: A prospective, cross-sectional survey was conducted online with a 27-item structured questionnaire using the snowball sampling technique and analyzed with IBM SPSS version 25. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the data. Chi square test was used to determine the association of knowledge of abortion and perception towards its legalization in Nigeria.

RESULTS: A total number of 331 students participated in the study. A larger number of the students (69.8%) had a poor knowledge of abortion while 37.2% were positively disposed to the idea of legalization of abortion. Half of the students (50.1%) strongly agreed that legalization of abortion will encourage premarital sex, while 9.4% strongly agreed that it will reduce abortion related deaths among teens. Perception towards legalization of abortion were not associated with gender, age and academic discipline (p>0.05). Importance and involvement in religious activities was significantly associated with perception on legalization of abortion. There was no relationship between the students' knowledge of abortion and perception towards legalization of abortion ( r= -0.41, p= 0.366).

CONCLUSIONS: More than half of the students had a poor knowledge of abortion however, a few expressed a positive perception towards legalization of abortion in Nigeria. Importance of religion and involvement in religious activities had a significant association with perception towards legalization of abortion. This suggests that religion likely influence the views of Nigerian University students on abortion and its laws. Therefore, proactive measures to educate students on abortion are recommended