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Private troubles and public issues: providing abortion amid competing definitions
1Department of Health Sciences, San Jose State University, CA 95192.
Social Science & Medicine (1982)
|January 1, 1989
Summary
Abortion providers hold diverse views on abortion, reflecting personal experiences beyond formal beliefs. These experiences shape how they define abortion, influenced by medical, pro-choice, or pro-life perspectives.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Medical Ethics
- Reproductive Health
Background:
- Abortion policy in the US has been debated for 16 years.
- Little research exists on the experiences of abortion providers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the definitions of abortion held by abortion workers.
- To understand how the experience of providing abortions shapes these definitions.
Main Methods:
- An exploratory study was conducted.
- 130 abortion workers (physicians, nurses, counselors) were surveyed.
Main Results:
- Respondents cited seven central definition themes: woman's right, destructive act, practitioner's work, technical procedure, positive act, murder, and irresponsible act.
- Definitions were categorized into medical, pro-choice, or pro-life perspectives.
- Each perspective had exclusive meanings, vocabulary, and imagery.
Conclusions:
- The situated experience of providing legal abortion evokes a range of definitions.
- These definitions influence perceptions of the abortion event, the fetus, the woman, and the practitioner's role.
- Definitions were linked to specific feelings and perceived as mutually exclusive.