Reflections of stress in US abortion narratives

Abstract

A trauma-informed, thematic analysis that identified stress-related themes evident in 39 personal abortion narratives from the Tennessee Stories Project in the United States is presented in this paper. Using the Braun and Clarke model of thematic analysis, guided by the trauma-informed social work framework, researchers examined these narratives to identify stress related themes. Findings An overall theme of stress and traumatic stress was found to be present throughout the abortion narratives. These themes were categorized into subthemes, including: (a) existing life stressors preceding the abortion experience, (b) stressors while trying to access abortion services, (c) stressors while obtaining abortion services, and (d) stressors arising after the procedure. Applications These results suggest that stress and traumatic stress were reflected in these abortion narratives throughout the abortion seeking experience. This finding supports the need for social work practice responses that are designed to address and eliminate stress during the process of seeking and obtaining an abortion in the United States. A trauma-informed framework is recommended for guiding social work education about abortion, social worker interactions with clients who are seeking abortions, and the development of abortion policy in the United States in order to better align the abortion seeking experience with the principles of trauma-informed care.

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Examining the Processing of Abortion Experiences Using Public Abortion Narratives

“…Additionally, abortion narratives have been used in research, with findings indicating that both pro-choice and antichoice advocates justify their political stance on abortion using their view of women’s social roles represented in abortion narratives (Allen, 2014; Thakkilapati, 2019). Recently, this same story/narrative project was examined in relation to stress and coping themes, with findings indicating that stressors were present in the narratives prior to, during, and after abortion procedures, supporting the need for social work responses that work to eliminate the stress inherent in abortion seeking (Sperlich et al, 2019).…”

“…After all narratives were coded, the information was reviewed in Atlas.ti (2017), and codes were organized into categories, subthemes, and themes (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004). Twelve overarching themes were identified in the data as a whole, and the themes and subthemes related to stress in the abortion-seeking experience were reported in another paper (Sperlich et al, 2019). For the current study, we report on four themes related to personal perspectives about emotionally and cognitively processing through the abortion experience.…”

“…Moreover, about half of social work students surveyed in one study reported that they would not make a referral for a client to obtain an abortion if requested, despite this assertion violating the NASW Code of Ethics (Ely et al, 2012). This is an astonishing omission in social work educational programs, given the compatibility between the concept of the right to self-determination, which is a cornerstone of social work practice (NASW, 2018), and the concept of reproductive justice, which is a framework developed by black women advocating for the right to have children, the right not to have children, and the right to parent in peace and safety (Ross & Solinger, 2017).…”

“…Since abortion is common, many individuals will interface with abortion care either as an abortion patient or through the experiences of loved ones (Guttmacher Institute, 2019; Moore et al, 2011). Abortion is stigmatized in the United States, and the abortion-seeking process requires complex navigation of barriers to abortion care (Sperlich et al, 2019; Cockrill & Nack, 2013; Cockrill et al, 2013; Ely et al, 2018; Greene, 2006; Guttmacher Institute, 2019; Hanschmidt et al, 2016; Jerman et al, 2017; Moore et al, 2011). Although existing literature has examined individual abortion experiences, there is little published research analyzing public abortion narratives, and the existing research has not fully considered the context of the abortion across a person’s life course.…”

Reproductive justice, abortion rights and social work

“…By way of justification for his proposal, Thyer (2018: 5) parrots common stigmatising anti-choice viewpoints, for example, as in the following particularly misogynist comment: 'the sad reality is that many women seeking an abortion do so purely for methods of birth control, for convenience, being unwilling to bear the burden of nine months of pregnancy'. The literature on the reasons underlying a choice to have an abortion provides myriad motives (Finer et al, 2007;Ely et al, 2017;Sperlich et al, 2020). Ely et al (2017), for example, cite: economic distress; limited access to contraceptive healthcare; current parenting responsibilities; requiring public assistance; rape and intimate partner violence; abusive, unwilling or unsupportive partners (Chibber et al, 2014); criminal justice involvement; health, mental health and disabilities; lack of social and emotional support; and insecure housing.…”