Indigenous (Māori) perspectives on abortion in New Zealand

Abstract

Abortion is an under-researched, sensitive and politicised topic, but in the New Zealand context, there is a conspicuous dearth of exploratory research on Indigenous (Māori) perspectives on abortion, despite some indication that Māori seek abortion services. International research that attends to the socio-cultural context of abortion evidences a fascinating variability of perspectives and attitudes about abortion, with some commonalities and patterns of resistance. Within accounts of Māori historical practice of abortion, there is some evidence of variability, and we sought to better understand the contemporary socio-cultural context surrounding Māori perspectives on abortion. As part of an Indigenous feminist (Mana Wāhine) interview study with 43 participants (26 women, 17 men), thematic analysis of participants' talk about abortion identified notions regarding ''protection of a new life'', ''woman's individual choice'', and ''extended family investment and support'' as foregrounded themes. We describe a rich and nuanced account of Māori perspectives on abortion, describing how these are structurally embedded within particular socio-historical and socio-cultural contexts, including Māori ideologies and theories, colonisation and Christianity, and women's rights activism.

Abortion embedded and embodied in social relations: Challenges for feminist psychology

“…The work of Le Grice and Braun (2017, this issue) also contributes to the growing body of research that shows how socio-cultural contexts influence communal and individual perspectives on abortion. Their work on Māori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand, shows how perspectives on abortion can be situated within a wider pattern of socio-cultural influence, particularly the intersection of traditional Māori ideologies, which revere reproduction with a supportive framing, and Christian ideologies.…”

“…One is the centrality of context in theorising and investigating abortion. Contextual influences are multiple: the individual’s close-in personal relationships; the interpretive community of which the individual is a part; the ways in which that community understands and values pregnancy, childbearing, and abortion (Le Grice & Braun, 2017, this issue); and the legality and accessibility of abortion procedures (Chiweshe et al., 2017, this issue). A second thread is the negativity and stigma that surround abortion in many parts of the world.…”

Intersectional discourses of reproductive agency in the Philippines: A mixed methods analysis of classed constructions of pregnancy resolution

“…In the context of unplanned pregnancies, class affects the educational opportunities shaping how young adults develop knowledge and beliefs about sex, contraception, and childbearing (Brubaker, 2016; Fine, 2012). Material access to services like maternity care and abortive procedures likewise influence how young adults perceive what options are possible, accessible, or moral for them to pursue (Jacobs & Mollborn, 2012; Le Grice & Braun, 2017).…”

Women-centred abortion care: Legitimising a disenfranchised aspect of healthcare

“…For example, Māori women who seek abortion may occupy an in-between place that falls outside of the anti/pro-abortion binary. Culturally there is the belief that the foetus has wairua before birth, is whakapapa and is considered a taonga, and yet women may choose to abort to protect this life from the challenging contexts of their current lives (Le Grice & Braun, 2017). Drawing from a holistic framework of care for all women, such as te whare tapa whā, means that providers' care is constituted in materially different ways from the current biomedical model in most settings.…”