Trails and technology: social and cultural geographies of abortion access

Calkin, Sydney; Freeman, Cordélia

doi:10.1080/14649365.2018.1509114

Cited by 22 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…'abortion corridors' arise between neighbouring countries with different legal regimes or similarly restrictive laws but different levels of enforcement: these corridors include Ireland-England, Germany-Poland, USA-Mexico, and Chile-Peru, among others (see Side 2016;Freeman 2017;Fletcher 2016;Brown 2013;Calkin and Freeman, 2018). Women who must travel for abortion face numerous barriers, of which political and economic obstacles often loom the largest.…”

Section: States Clinics and Reproductive Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a political geography of abortion

Calkin

2019

Political Geography

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Section: States Clinics and Reproductive Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a political geography of abortion

Calkin

2019

Political Geography

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“…In the absence of any policy constraints, and acting within the MToP regulatory environment, the training providers were able to be autonomous in making decisions about training others around MToP, so diluting power around where and by whom service delivery could be undertaken. This circumstance appears to be somewhat exceptional as challenges to the medical control of abortion tend to be controversial [ 41 , 42 ]. In other country or policy contexts where there is little desire to divest medical power there may also be fewer motivations to decentralise services like abortion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst the challenges to decentralization identified in this study were few, they were significant in terms of creating caution amongst some study participants about MToP service delivery, and these remained unresolved throughout and beyond the training sessions. Abortion stigma in particular remains as a broader issue, recognised as a persistent barrier to improving abortion access [ 41 , 42 ]. Ultimately, it appears that it is not the number of enablers and challenges to decentralization in this case that are significant, but the gravity of each of these in terms of supporting or undermining the dimensions of decentralization.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical termination of pregnancy service delivery in the context of decentralization: social and structural influences

Chambers

Clune

Tomnay

2018

Int J Equity Health

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BackgroundMedical termination of pregnancy (MToP) is a safe and acceptable abortion option. Depending on country context, MToP can be administered by general practitioners and mid-level healthcare providers in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. Like other high-income countries, a range of social and structural barriers to MToP service provision exist in Australia. To counter some of these barriers, geographic decentralization of MToP was undertaken in rural Victoria, Australia, through training service providers about MToP to increase service delivery opportunities. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that enabled and challenged the decentralization process.MethodsFace-to-face and telephone interviews were undertaken between April and June 2016 with a purposeful sample of six training providers and 13 general practitioners (GP) and nurse training participants. Study participants were asked about their perceptions of motivations, enablers and challenges to MToP provision. A published conceptual framework of synergies between decentralization and service delivery was used to analyse the study findings.ResultsThree key themes emerged from the study findings. First, the effort to decentralize MToP was primarily supported by motivations related to making service access more equitable as well as the willingness of training providers to devolve their informal power, in the form of MToP medical expertise, to training participants. Next, the enablers for MToP decentralization included changes in the regulatory environment relating to decriminalization of abortion and availability of required medication, formation of partnerships to deliver training, provision of MToP clinical resources and local collegial support. Finally, challenges to MToP decentralization were few but significant. These included a lack of a state-wide strategy for service provision, provider concerns about coping with service demand, and provider stigma in the form of perceived negative community or collegial attitudes. These were significant enough to create caution for GPs and nurses considering service provision.ConclusionsDecentralization concepts offer an innovative way for reframing and tackling issues associated with improving MToP service delivery. There is scope for more research about MToP decentralization in other country contexts. These findings are important for informing future rural MToP service expansion efforts that improve equity in service access.

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“…Scholarly writing on AHAs has been careful to emphasise that these movements were made up of political activists working to disrupt the borders of reproductive governance (De Zordo, Mishtal and Anton, 2016; O’Donnell, 2017). This disruption has taken a variety of forms, including facilitating movement across spatial and socio-economic boundaries (Rossiter, 2009; Calkin and Freeman, 2018), supporting self-care (Drovetta, 2015; De Zordo, Mishtal and Anton, 2016; Aiken, Gomperts and Trussell, 2017; Kasstan and Crook, 2018) and normalising or ‘de-strangering’ abortion access (Fletcher, 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

From Feminist Anarchy to Decolonisation: Understanding Abortion Health Activism Before and After the Repeal of the 8^th Amendment

Duffy¹

2020

Feminist Review

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This article analyses abortion health activism (AHA) in the Irish context. AHA is a form of activism focused on enabling abortion access where it is restricted. Historically, AHA has involved facilitating the movement of abortion seekers along ‘abortion trails’ (Rossiter, 2009). Organisations operate transnationally, enabling access to abortion care across borders. Such AHA is a form of feminist anarchism, resisting prohibitions on abortion through direct action. However, AHA work has changed over time. Existing scholarship relates this to advancements in medical technology, particularly the emergence of telemedicine and the increased use of early medical abortion. This article goes beyond those explanations to explore how else AHA has changed by comparing the work of AHA before and after the Republic of Ireland’s referendum on abortion in May 2018. Based on this, I argue that there is a visible shift in the politics of AHA. Drawing on qualitative data from research on AHA organisations along the Liverpool–Ireland Abortion Corridor, specifically those based outside Ireland, the article argues that in the aftermath of the referendum, Irish AHA has increasingly moved towards decolonising feminist activism, thus drawing attention to the relationship between abortion health activists (AHAs) and broader political discourses entangled with abortion law reform.

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Trails and technology: social and cultural geographies of abortion access

Cited by 22 publications

References 29 publications

Towards a political geography of abortion

Towards a political geography of abortion

Medical termination of pregnancy service delivery in the context of decentralization: social and structural influences

From Feminist Anarchy to Decolonisation: Understanding Abortion Health Activism Before and After the Repeal of the 8^th Amendment

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Trails and technology: social and cultural geographies of abortion access

Cited by 22 publications

References 29 publications

Towards a political geography of abortion

Towards a political geography of abortion

Medical termination of pregnancy service delivery in the context of decentralization: social and structural influences

From Feminist Anarchy to Decolonisation: Understanding Abortion Health Activism Before and After the Repeal of the 8th Amendment

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Resources

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From Feminist Anarchy to Decolonisation: Understanding Abortion Health Activism Before and After the Repeal of the 8^th Amendment