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From women’s ‘irresponsibility’ to foetal ‘patienthood’: Obstetricians-gynaecologists’ perspectives on abortion and its stigmatisation in Italy and Cataluña.
- Source :
-
Global Public Health . Jun2018, Vol. 13 Issue 6, p711-723. 13p. - Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- This article explores obstetricians-gynaecologists’ experiences and attitudes towards abortion, based on two mixed-methods studies respectively undertaken in Italy in 2011-2012, and in Spain (Cataluña) in 2013-2015. Short questionnaires and in-depth interviews were conducted with 54 obstetricians-gynaecologists at 4 hospitals providing abortion care in Rome and Milan, and with 23 obstetricians-gynaecologists at 2 hospitals and one clinic providing abortion care in Barcelona. A medical/moral classification of abortions, from those considered ‘more acceptable’, both medically and morally - for severe foetal malformations - to the ‘least acceptable’ ones - repeated ‘voluntary abortions’, emerged in the discourse of most obstetricians-gynaecologists working in public hospitals, regardless of their religiosity. I argue that this is the result of the increasing medicalisation of contraception as well as of reproduction, which has reinforced the stigmatisation of ‘voluntary abortion’ (in case of unintended pregnancy) in a context of declining fertility rates. This contributes to explain why obstetricians-gynaecologists working in Catalan hospitals, which provide terminations only for medical reasons, unlike Italian hospitals, do not experience abortion stigma and do not object to abortion care as much as their Italian colleagues do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *ABORTION laws
*ABORTION
*COMPARATIVE studies
*CONCEPTUAL structures
*CONTRACEPTION
*DEBATE
*EXPERIENTIAL learning
*FERTILITY
*FETAL abnormalities
*GOAL (Psychology)
*GYNECOLOGY
*HUMAN reproduction
*INTERVIEWING
*RESEARCH methodology
*MEDICAL personnel
*OBSTETRICS
*PRENATAL diagnosis
*QUESTIONNAIRES
*RESEARCH funding
*SOCIAL problems
*SOCIAL role
*SOCIAL sciences
*SOCIAL stigma
*PSYCHOLOGY of women
*WOMEN'S rights
*WORK
*ATTITUDES toward abortion
*DESCRIPTIVE statistics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17441692
- Volume :
- 13
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Global Public Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 129038037
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2017.1293707