The changing body work of abortion: a qualitative study of the experiences of health professionals

Abstract

'Body work' has emerged at the nexus of sociologies of work and bodies as a means of conceptualising work focusing on the bodies of others. This article utilises this analytical tool in the context of contemporary abortion work. Abortion provision in Britain has seen significant change in the last 25 years, paralleling developments in medical methods, and the option for women under nine weeks' gestation to complete the abortion at home. These shifts raise questions around how abortion work is experienced by those who do it. We apply the conceptual lens of body work to data drawn from in-depth interviews with 37 health professionals involved in abortion provision, to draw out the character, constraints and challenges of contemporary abortion work. We explore three key themes: the instrumental role of emotional labour in facilitating body work; the temporality of abortion work; and bodily proximity, co-presence and changes in provision. By drawing on the conceptual frame of body work, we illuminate the dynamics of contemporary abortion work in Britain and, by introducing the idea of 'body work-by-proxy', highlight ways in which this context can be used to expand the conceptual boundaries of body work.

Current barriers, facilitators and future improvements to advance quality of abortion care: views of women

“…EMA with self-administration of misoprostol at home3 and self-assessment of the success of the procedure9 has vastly decreased the ‘body work’ that is required of healthcare professionals during abortion care,16 potentially making it more acceptable for a wider range of healthcare professionals to provide the services. In light of this, the views of GPs, nurses and midwives in the UK on potentially providing medical (and surgical) abortion care should be investigated.…”

Self‐management of first trimester medical termination of pregnancy: a qualitative study of women's experiences

“…However, health professionals also need to convey the potential for variation in experiences of medical TOP, and are therefore required to strike a delicate balance between the specific detail that (some) women want and the range of experiences that they may face. Effectively striking this balance simultaneously affords women greater agency in the process, and maintains the place of first trimester TOP self‐management within the bounds of medical care …”

“…Effectively striking this balance simultaneously affords women greater agency in the process, and maintains the place of first trimester TOP self-management within the bounds of medical care. 19 One current gap in this regard appears to be around experiences of passing larger clots/pieces of pregnancy tissue. It may be that this remains a relatively taboo aspect of the process, which health professionals find more challenging to verbalise; or it may be that this has not previously been flagged to providers as information which women undertaking self-management want.…”

“…** 14,15 Women are also commonly given the option vaginally to self-administer misoprostol at the clinic. This paper draws on data from one Scottish NHS health board area, where women are typically treated over two clinic visits, 18,19 and in which around 77% of TOP ≤63 days (55% of all terminations) are completed at home. 5 The first visit involves counselling and administering mifepristone; and the second, provision of misoprostol and post-TOP contraception.…”

Bodies and Intimate Relations in Organizations and Work

“…Since social scientists began publishing in the area of ‘Bodies and Intimate Relations in Organizations and Work’, the title of this Special Issue, there has been a significant increase in interest in this area. While feminist scholarship has made a particularly strong contribution to the study of bodies and intimacy at work, research is not confined to studies of gender at work, or even to types of, or aspects of, work in which bodies have an obviously prominent place, such as health care or aesthetic and aestheticized labour (for recent studies, see McDowell, ; Purcell et al ., ; Shaw, ; Van den Brock, ; Williams and Connell, ). Over nearly 20 years, bodies at work has become an attractive focus of organization studies (e.g.…”