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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 :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Global Public Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 129038037
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2017.1293707