Women’s micro-narratives of the process of abortion decision-making: justifying the decision to have an abortion

Mavuso, Jabulile M-J J; Macleod, Catriona I

Title: Women’s micro-narratives of the process of abortion decision-making: justifying the decision to have an abortion
Creator: Mavuso, Jabulile M-J J, Macleod, Catriona I
Date: 2015
Type: text
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143893
Identifier: vital:38292
Identifier: https://ischp.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ischp_2015_abstract_booklet.pdf
Description: What is missing from abortion research is research that explores women’s narratives of the processes of abortion decision-making in a way that acknowledges the constraints placed on ‘choice’. This study sought to explore, using Foucauldian feminist post-structuralism and a narrative-discursive approach, women’s micro-narratives of the abortion decision-making process. Purposive sampling was used to recruit a total of 25 participants from three abortion facilities in the Eastern Cape. Participants were unmarried ‘Black’ women between the ages of 19 and 35, and were mostly unemployed. Narrative interviews were done with the women. Analysis revealed an over-arching narrative in which women described the abortion decision as something that they were ‘forced’ into by their circumstances. To construct this narrative, women justified the decision to have an abortion by drawing on discourses that normalise certain practices located within the husband-wife and parent-child axes and make the pregnancy a problematic, unsupported and unsupportable one. Gendered and generational power relations reinforced this and contributed to the obstruction of reproductive justice.
Format: pdf
Language: English
Relation: International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP), Mavuso, J. and Macleod, C., 2015. Women’s micro-narratives of the process of abortion decision-making: Justifying the decision to have an abortion. International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP). 9th Biennial Conference, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP) volume 2015 number 0 2015
Rights: Publisher
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Rhodes University Proatia Statement (https://www.ru.ac.za//governance/proatia/)

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Gender Action Forum (GENACT)

Macleod, Catriona Ida (Distinguished Professor)

SDG 05. Gender Equality

RU Department of Psychology

SDG 10. Reduced Inequalities

RU DST/NRF SARChI for Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproductions Research (CSSR) Programme

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