Abortion at the edges: Politics, practices, performances

Abstract

This article provides a brief overview of the state of discourse, politics and provision of abortion in the Anglophone West, including developments in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It then surveys three promising directions for feminist abortion scholarship. The first is work inspired by the Reproductive Justice Movement, that points to the intersectional axes of inequality that shape abortion discourse and position us in relation to reproductive choice and access issues. The second is work that examines the particularity of the constitution of the aborting body, reflecting the particularity of the pregnant body. This is a specific body, with a specific history; abortion discourse draws from and makes a significant contribution to the meaning and lived experience of this body. The third area of scholarship we highlight is that which seeks to amplify the meaning of abortion as a social good. Much abortion scholarship is attuned to a critique of negative aspects of abortion-from its representation in popular culture to restrictive law and access issues. This is critical work but/and the performative nature of abortion scholarship, like all discourse, means that it can amplify the association of negativity with abortion. The article concludes by introducing the articles contained in the special section of Women's Studies International Forum, 'Abortion at the edges: Politics, practices, performances'. In the context of the 'constantly changing space' of abortion and reproductive issues more broadly (Berer & Hoggart, 2019: 79), feminist scholarship about abortion remains a site of ongoing interest and hard work from scholars across diverse institutional and disciplinary locations. This is related to and necessary for the equally diverse range of non-academic feminist and related campaigns and activist movements that work locally, nationally and globally to improve access to safe abortion care and normalise the experience of abortion. There is no sign that this work, or the need for it, is abating. As we write, responses to the COVID-19 pandemic are creating new challenges for women who seek abortions and those who provide them, and intensifying the pace of change in this space. The International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion has issued an international call to action. 'Every country could and should move most abortions out of hospitals and clinics by ensuring women can get abortion pills and self-manage their abortions up to 10-12 weeks at home, with a number to call for advice and backup care if needed' (International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion, 2020). National and regional responses are diverse. Abortion scholars and others will continue to watch how this global social and public health crisis will affect access to abortion services, discourse about abortion, and laws that regulate abortion in both the short and long term. The focus of this article, and the special issue for which it is an introduction, is abortion in the Anglophone West. After a brief overview of the state of dis...

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