[Ending life by medical means. Do attitudes of physicians differ from those of the population?].

The paper presents the Norwegian population's attitude to euthanasia and to legal abortion in 1982, 1990 and 1995, and compares the responses given in 1995 with the attitudes of a representative sample of 1,260 Norwegian physicians. The acceptance of legal abortion in the population seems to have remained constant, while the population's attitude towards euthanasia has become more liberal. Social criteria and a potential handicapped baby were less accepted as causes for abortion in 1995 than in 1990. The physicians are more liberal towards abortion and more sceptical towards euthanasia. The physicians are more reluctant, however, to accept a potential handicapped offspring as a reason for abortion.