Social stigma and disclosure about induced abortion: Results from an exploratory study

Abstract

It is well recognised that unsafe abortions have significant implications for women's physical health; however, women's perceptions and experiences with abortion-related stigma and disclosure about abortion are not well understood. This paper examines the presence and intensity of abortion stigma in five countries, and seeks to understand how stigma is perceived and experienced by women who terminate an unintended pregnancy and influences her subsequent disclosure behaviours. The paper is based upon focus groups and semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with women and men in Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru and the United States (USA) in 2006. The stigma of abortion was perceived similarly in both legally liberal and restrictive settings although it was more evident in countries where abortion is highly restricted. Personal accounts of experienced stigma were limited, although participants cited numerous social consequences of having an abortion. Abortion-related stigma played an important role in disclosure of individual abortion behaviour.

Abortion as agentive action: reproductive agency among young women seeking post-abortion care in Uganda

“…Similarly to preceding studies (Schwandt et al 2013;Shellenberg et al 2011) secrecy was an important tactic that enabled agentive action while avoiding stigma and appearing to adhere to established social norms. However, our study revealed the health implications of maintaining secrecy as a lack of resources, coupled with the need to avoid exposure, resulted in delayed care-seeking.…”

Pesquisa Nacional de Aborto 2016

“…Studies that do not use techniques that guarantee secrecy tend to produce an underestimation of the magnitude of abortion [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] . For example, the National Health Survey of 2013 (2013 PNS), which was conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), obtained data through face-to-face interviews with interviewers of both sexes and concluded that only 2.1% of women between the ages of 18 and 49 -a proportion significantly smaller than that of the 2010 PNA-had had an abortion 12 .…”

Intended and unintended consequences of abortion law reform: perspectives of abortion experts in Victoria, Australia

“…While legal status alone does not imply accessible services, there is evidence that the legal status of abortion does affect the practice of doctors and their willingness to provide abortion services 11 12. Legal status is also assumed to contribute to women's experience of stigma, and the associated negative psychological outcomes 13 14. In this article we explore the link between the legal status of abortion and its accessibility, by describing the practical impact of the 2008 Victorian law reform on abortion provision, and women's experience of accessing abortion services, from the perspective of experts.…”