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ObjectivesThis is the first study contrasting the experience of women residing in France and travelling for abortion services inside and outside their country of residence. We compare travel reasons and costs as well as our study participants’ opinions of abortion legislation. The article documents legal and procedural barriers related to accessing local and timely abortions and provides policy recommendations to broaden care options.MethodsThe study is based on a mixed-methods research design. Quantitative data were descriptively analysed using Stata and drawn from 100 surveys with in-country abortion seekers collected from 3 Parisian hospitals, and 57 surveys with French residents seeking abortion care in the Netherlands (42), Spain (10) and the UK (5). Qualitative data were thematically analysed using ATLAS.ti and drawn from 36 interviews with French residents (23 in-country abortion seekers and 13 cross-border abortion travellers).FindingsGestational age (GA) limits were the key reason for cross-border travel, while lack of close-by, timely and good quality abortion care was the main driver for in-country abortion travel. Unlike in-country travellers, cross-border abortion seekers faced significant financial costs and burdens related to such travel. Partners, family members and service providers offered important support structures to both cross-border and in-country travellers.ConclusionsLegal time limits appeared to be the key driver for abortion-related travel of French residents. Having passed or being at risk of exceeding the GA limit caused women to travel outside their country or department of residence for abortion care.

The fall of state socialism in Poland in 1989 constituted a critical moment which redefined policies on reproductive health care and access to family planning, influenced by the renewed power of the Catholic church. Poland also embarked on neoliberal economic reforms that resulted in major cutbacks in social services and state health care coverage. The confluence of the elimination of contraceptive subsidies, privatisation of health care, and the intensification of bribes to underpaid health care providers created new challenges for women in accessing services. Furthermore, the 1993 ban on abortion resulted in a nearly total privatisation of this service, which is currently available clandestinely at a high price. Drawing on anthropological research in the Gdansk metropolitan region in 2007, this paper examines the restrictions on access to family planning, abortion, maternity care, assisted reproduction and other gynaecological services. It draws attention to the urgent need for state-subsidised family planning and other reproductive health services, the reform of abortion law, and regulation of privatised services. Higher wages for public sector health professionals and better public health provision would curb informal payments. The state should support the legitimacy of women's health needs and reproductive and sexual autonomy. Keywords: reproductive health services, family planning services, privatisation, abortion law and policy, health policy and programmes, Poland Resume La fin du socialisme d'Etat en Pologne en 1989 a declenche une redefinition des politiques sur les soins de sante genesique et de l'acces a la planification familiale, influencee par le pouvoir accru de l'Eglise catholique. La Pologne a aussi entrepris des reformes economiques neoliberales qui ont abouti a des coupes sombres dans les services sociaux et la couverture sanitaire etatique. La confluence de l'elimination des subventions aux contraceptifs, la privatisation des soins de sante et l'intensification des pots-de-vin verses aux prestataires de soins de sante sous-remuneres a cree de nouveaux obstacles empechant les femmes d'acceder aux services. De plus, l'interdiction de l'avortement en 1993 a provoque une privatisation presque totale de ce service, qui est actuellement disponible clandestinement a un prix eleve. Se fondant sur une recherche anthropologique dans la region metropolitaine de Gdansk en 2007, cet article examine les restrictions de l'acces a la planification familiale, a l'avortement, aux soins maternels, a la procreation assistee et a d'autres services gynecologiques. Il montre qu'il est urgent de disposer de services de planification familiale et autres soins de sante genesique subventionnes par l'Etat, de reformer la loi sur l'avortement et de reguler les services privatises. Des salaires plus eleves des professionnels du secteur public et de meilleures prestations de sante publigue diminueraient les paiements informels. L'Etat devrait soutenir la legitimite des besoins de sante des femmes et leur autonomie genesique. Resumen La caida del socialismo en Polonia en 1989 constituyo un momento critico, que redefinio las politicas referentes a los servicios de salud reproductiva y el acceso a la planificacion familiar, en las cuales influyo el poder renovado de la Iglesia catolica. Polonia tambien emprendio reformas economicas neoliberales, que produjeron considerables recortes en los servicios sociales y en la cobertura estatal de los servicios de salud. La confluencia de la eliminacion de subsidios para anticonceptivos, la privatizacion de los servicios de salud y la intensificacion de los sobornos a profesionales de la salud mal remunerados, creo nuevos retos para las mujeres en cuanto al acceso a los servicios. La prohibicion del aborto en 1993 resulto en la privatizacion casi total de este servicio, el cual actualmente se ofrece clandestinamente a un precio muy caro. Basado en una investigacion antropologica realizada en 2007 en la region metropolitana de Gdansk, este articulo examina las restricciones al acceso a los servicios de planificacion familiar, aborto, atencion materna, reproduccion asistida y otros servicios ginecologicos. Destaca la necesidad urgente de servicios de planificacion familiar y otros servicios de salud reproductiva subsidiados por el Estado, la reforma de la ley de aborto y la regulacion de los servicios privatizados. Los pagos extraoficiales se pueden reducir mediante sueldos mas altos para profesionales de la salud del sector publico y una mejor prestacion de servicios de salud publica. El Estado deberia apoyar la legitimidad de las necesidades de salud de las mujeres y su autonomia reproductiva y sexual., THE hallmark of the state socialist regime in Poland, in power from 1947 to 1989, was the separation of church and state, which particularly benefited women. Despite the historical strength [...]

Migration to Italy has drastically increased, with thousands of refugees traveling by sea to Sicily, a major entry point into the European Union. Upon arrival, authorities send refugees to first reception centers and then transfer them to second reception centers operated by local NGOs. While there is abundant scholarship regarding refugee resettlement, there is little anthropological research specifically concerning the conditions of second reception centers. Based on ethnographic research conducted in 2015 and 2016 at second reception centers for refugees in Siracusa, this article examines how NGO practices shape refugees’ experiences after they arrive in Italy. While NGO practices often adversely affect refugees, we argue that good humanitarian aid is possible at second reception centers for refugees throughout Europe. This article highlights the practices of one center for unaccompanied minors that functions as an example of “good aid” by effectively distributing economic and social services, thus facilitating refugees’ integration into Italian society. It is important to understand the conditions under which humanitarian aid can have a positive impact on refugee resettlement experiences in order to improve European refugee policy and non-governmental practices and ensure they adequately support the refugee population, particularly unaccompanied minors.

Information flow – information communication and transmission pathways and practices within healthcare systems – impacts patient journeys. Historically, regulating information flow was a key technology of reproductive governance in the Republic of Ireland. Pre-2018, law and the State sustained informational barriers to and through abortion care in Ireland. An expanded abortion service was implemented in January 2019.

Yoga is increasingly ubiquitous in the United States and globally. The growth of yoga’s popularity alongside Indian healing philosophies, including Ayurvedic medicine, makes yoga an important influence on conceptualization of health in holistic terms. Because of these philosophies, the growing use of yoga has implications for how healthcare is sought and utilized. Yoga practitioners are likely to engage in pluralistic health care-seeking practices, yet, the underlying perspectives that drive yoga practitioners to engage in particular health practices are poorly understood in anthropological and public health literature. This study examined perspectives on health care-seeking among long-term yoga practitioners in a yoga community in Florida. Based on semi-structured interviews conducted in 2010 with 26 adults in a Florida yoga center who have practiced yoga at least once per week for at least one year, the study found that long-term yoga practitioners utilized yoga and other systems of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to address health needs that were not met by biomedicine. Moreover, once individuals embarked on long-term yoga practice, they expanded their health care-seeking practices to other CAMs. This study contributes to understanding of the pluralization of health care-seeking practices, highlights concerns with the biomedical health system, and contributes to current debates on health care reform.