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Much care has been paid to reflexivity, including considering emotional sensitivities?in relation to face-to-face interviews. However, less attention has been paid to the impact of sensitivities on the process of data?analysis and the presentation of research findings. This paper focuses on?what constitutes 'the data' to be analysed, who analyses and interprets the data, what is silenced and what is made public, and what?this might mean for feminist research practice in areas considered to be 'sensitive'. It examines these issues by focusing on research on abortion decision-making in which the views?and emotions?of the researcher were profoundly challenged by women's constructions of narratives containing a theme?of?abortion regret. The paper demonstrates how theoretical perspectives -- in this case, feminist standpoint theory -- can be used in sensitive research, to allow the researcher to resolve such tensions?by providing a means through which greater attention can be paid to the context of participants' narratives.

Medication abortion has been established globally as safe and effective. This modality has increased accessibility and the opportunity to centre individual autonomy at the heart of abortion care, by facilitating self-managed abortion. Previous research has shown how self-managed abortion is beneficial in myriad settings ranging from problematic to (relatively) unproblematic contexts of access. In this paper we explore the relationship between self-management and sources of support (including health professionals, family, and friends); as well as considering issues of reproductive control and autonomy. Drawing on qualitative, experience-centred interviews, we utilise the concept of social connectedness to examine how supported self-managed abortion was experienced in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, self-management was welcomed, with participants speaking positively about managing their own abortion at home. However, a sense of connectedness was crucial in helping participants deal with difficult experiences; and functioned to support individual autonomy in self-care. This paper is the first to examine factors of connection, support, and isolation, as experienced by those undergoing self-managed abortion in the UK in detail. Our research suggests a continued need to advocate for high quality support for self-managed abortion, as well as for choice of abortion method, to support patient-centered care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Method choice is an important component of quality abortion care and qualitative research suggests that abortion stigma can influence provider preference and provision of abortion methods. This study is the first to explore the relationships between abortion providers' method preferences, their provision of medication or instrumentation abortion or both methods, and abortion stigma. Methods: We conducted secondary analysis of a survey of United Kingdom (UK) abortion providers (N = 172) to describe and compare providers' self‐reported method preferences and provision. We used multinomial logistic regression to assess the association between method preference and provider experiences of abortion stigma (measured using a revised Abortion Provider Stigma Scale (APSS)), adjusting for relevant provider and facility characteristics. Results: Almost half (52%) of providers reported that they only provided medication abortion care, while 5% only provided instrumentation abortion care and 43% provided both methods. Most (62%) preferred to provide both methods while 32% preferred to provide only medication abortion and 6% only instrumentation abortion. There was no significant difference in revised APSS scores by provider method preference or provision. Discussion: Most surveyed UK abortion providers prefer to offer both methods, but over half only provide medication abortion. This may reflect patients' preferences for medication abortion, and health system and legal constraints on instrumentation abortion. Addressing these systemic constraints on method provision could expand patient choice. Providers' method preference was not significantly associated with provider stigma but future research should consider the influence of structural stigma on method provision at the health system level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young mothers often encounter stigma and discrimination, affecting their lives and that of their children. This paper explores stigma management strategies and their effectiveness for young mothers in rural Nigeria. Ten key informants and 24 young mothers were recruited from Ife-East in South-Western Nigeria. Data from semi-structured interviews showed that societal disapproval of pregnant teenagers and young mothers were common experiences. Women used a range of strategies to actively cope with stigma including: belief in predestination, avoidance, concealment, and cohabitation. These strategies could be seen as tools to mitigate negative stereotypes and discrimination. However, they also had the unintended consequences of compounding many young women’s difficult circumstances and exposing them to adverse outcomes, including gender-based violence, repeat pregnancies, poor mental health, and low uptake of services. The results show the need for policy frameworks to actively combat stigma by addressing the negative framing of early pregnancy and motherhood and promoting supportive environments for young mothers. Health professionals need to be trained to offer de-stigmatising services to encourage young mothers to seek help and reduce pre-existing inequities in access to services, and policies need to include measures that address the rights of young mothers and protect them from violence and abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although random assignment is generally the preferred methodology in impact evaluations, it raises numerous ethical concerns, some of which are addressed by securing participants' informed consent. However, there has been little investigation of how consent is obtained in social experiments and the amount of information that can be conveyed--and absorbed--prior to consent. This article reports on the implementation of the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) program, a large social experiment in the United Kingdom. Procedures to elicit informed consent were generally scrupulously followed, but even so many participants appeared to have only limited understanding of the experiment and their involvement in it. The reasons for this are articulated and recommendations are made to help ensure, to the extent possible, that potential random assignment study participants adequately understand their situation and their choices. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

Continued pregnancy after an abortion attempt is a likely outcome in countries where unsafe abortions prevail. Yet there is a paucity of literature on the consequences and implications of failed abortions. This study explored young women's abortion decision-making, their experiences of failed abortion and its consequences in South-Western Nigeria. It presents findings from semi-structured interviews conducted with 14 women who had become unintentionally pregnant as unmarried teenagers, desired abortions, yet became mothers. Whilst the fear of the stigma associated with young unmarried motherhood gave rise to participants' desire for abortion, restrictive abortion laws influenced their experiences and abortion decision-making. Participants who attempted an abortion failed and were forced to carry their unwanted pregnancies to term. They then experienced continued discrimination, forced motherhood, and a rejection of maternalism. Their experiences are analysed as responses to the complex interplay between social norms, abortion restrictions, stigma and forced motherhood. The paper makes a case for improving women's reproductive autonomy in decision-making, – highlighting the social and mental health consequences of restricted access to abortion, and reinforce the importance of taking a holistic approach to addressing the sexual health of young women, by focusing not only on physical health but also on ensuring wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tackling the 'problem' of teenage pregnancy was proclaimed as one of the priorities of New Labour. It is an issue that is rarely out of the news and provokes strong opinions from all sides of the political spectrum. This article discusses the social, political and historical context to the current debate. It argues that the centrality of the issues of social inequality and reproductive choice to the debate make it important for socialists and feminists., Introduction. The phenomenon of teenage pregnancy has recently eclipsed lone parenthood as a focus of media and state concern, and of moral outrage. Although these two terms are often used [...]

The problem of translating political aims into effective political practice is of longstanding concern for political activists, including feminists. This article considers this problem for socialist feminist political activity around reproductive rights. It includes a consideration of the strategy of feminist alliances with socialist movements in political practice. It does so through a study of the Workers' Birth Control Group in the 1920s and the National Abortion Campaign in the 1970s. Both these feminist organisations attempted the difficult task of taking feminist demands for bodily control into the labour movement. These two cases examine how far successful alliance with a reformist dominated labour movement was facilitated through the promotion of moderate - as opposed to radical - politics on reproductive rights, and, further, how far class and gender politics clashed in the process.

An introduction to articles in the issue is presented on topics including the framing of abortion as reproductive justice in South Korea, international and national policy mechanisms and recommendations that activists leveraged to bring Ireland's abortion regime to the point of reform, and whether it is the right thing to do to support a very limited abortion law when no other alternative is provided.

This paper scrutinises the concepts of moral reasoning and personal reasoning, problematising the binary model by looking at young women’s pregnancy decision-making. Data from two UK empirical studies are subjected to theoretically driven qualitative secondary analysis, and illustrative cases show how complex decision-making is characterised by an intertwining of the personal and the moral, and is thus best understood by drawing on moral relativism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]