Thesis (doctoral)--Imperatorskīĭ i︠u︡rʹevskīĭ universitet, Medit︠s︡inskīĭ fakulʹtet, 1910. / Title from cover. Includes bibliographical references (p. [79]-82).

As a point of political and ethical contestation in U.S. American discourse, the “abortion debate” asks us to consider questions of choice, life, morality, and identity embedded with/in unequivocally conflicting axiological matrices. Consequentially, women who’ve had abortions are left caught in-between the cultural chasm between stigmatizing discourses. Framing abortion narratives within Turner’s (1969) conceptualization of liminality, this project aims to nuance the conversation from a performative autoethnographic orientation (Spry, 2011) which attends to ethical, aesthetic, and epistemic dimensions of narrative (re)construction. Layered narrative and poetic fragments (re)constitute the ruptured “truthfulness” of my abortion experience (Žižek, 2008) while (re)centering epistemological foundations of abortion discourse through subjugated corporeal knowledges (Foucault, 1980). By “talking back” (hooks, 1989) to neoliberal postfeminist discourses, this autoethnographic project seeks to performatively (re)construct the abortion experience through a language of liminality and explore the potentials of an alternative “imaginary” (Irigaray, 1991; Cixous, 1976, 1998).

M.A. / Since its legalisation in this country, abortion has become a controversial subject in religious, social and judicial circles. However, little is known about the relationship between depression and the possible side effects that may be produced by the procedure. Indeed, the possible impact of social variables and personality traits have been receiving more attention in recent research in an effort to identify those at risk for negative symptoms. This study was carried out on a group of 42 women from the Soweto and Jeppe Street Marie Stopes clinics. The women were assesse·d according to locus of control, depression and certain psychosocial variables. As expected, the overall levels of depression among these women, who largely represent the underprivileged segment of the community, were very high. Although no significant relationship could be established between locus of control and depression following abortion, certain social variables were identified as possible risk factors for de.ffipession after having an abortion.

D.Ed. / The primary theme of this study is the accompanying of the adolescent girl after a termination of pregnancy. A termination of pregnancy is traumatic for any woman, even more so for the adolescent girl who does not necessarily possess the required coping mechanisms to deal with the emotional load that a termination brings with it. Often this girl undergoes a termination in secret, and as a result of the secrecy she does not have any support system. She chooses to keep the termination a secret and therefore she cannot share her fears, heartache, regret, guilt and shame. The relationship in which she was, usually breaks up as a result of the termination, and even that support disappears from her life. She stands alone. She has unanswered questions. She yearns to cry and share her secret - but with whom? After the termination her relationship with herself and with others is poor, and therefore she isolates herself. She does not want to allow herself to have a future, and therefore urgently needs to be guided out of her feelings of hopelessness so that she can dream again, and see a future for herself. The adolescent girl must be led to self-insight, self-awareness and insight into her situation. She must be led to self-assertiveness, empowerment and eventually mental well being. These girls are usually without direction in their lives and caught up in a web of distorted ideas and dysfunctional relationships: her relationship with herself and with others. Her future perspective is also affected. To underpin this situation, I undertook the study and developed a psychosocial programme to support this girl after termination, to assist her to achieve her full potential, as God would wish. The aim of this programme is thus, in co-operation with this adolescent girl, to lead her to mental well being and a new perspective on her future. She must be assured that there is life after a termination of pregnancy. This is done through questioning, listening, discussing, reformulating and reconstructing her circumstances. A person never completes your life's story, but nothing prevents you from reformulating your future, irrespective of what happened in your past. The framework of the programme is compiled from the results of a literature study of published research. This programme was implemented and evaluated on the basis of three interpersonal conversations held with ladies who had undergone termination of pregnancy. Certain needs were identified by these ladies and used as guideline to develop a psycho-social programme to support and lead girls after a termination of a pregnancy. The contribution of this study is in the conceptual framework and programme. The programme has been evaluated in a pilot study.

The research that is currently available on abortion practices among Punjabi women focuses on the phenomenon of sex-selective abortion. To date, there has been no research published on the abortion experiences of Punjabi women in Canada. The objective of this qualitative study is to fill a gap in the literature and shed light on the abortion experiences of Punjabi women across Ontario and British Columbia. Through in-depth interviews with Punjabi women and key informant interviews with health professionals involved in abortion provision, this study documents Punjabi women’s abortion experiences in Canada and providers’ experiences serving this population. Four Punjabi women and three key informants were interviewed across Ontario and British Columbia. The overall findings suggest that the abortion experiences of Punjabi women are very similar to those of Canadian women, in general. Although none of the participants had undergone sex-selective abortion themselves, women described their perceptions of this practice in the Punjabi community. In addition, Punjabi women suggested improvements in pregnancy options counseling, availability of medication abortion and employment accommodation. Key informants’ experiences serving this population differed based on the location of the abortion facility and the demographics of that area. All of the key informants suggested improvements to overcome challenges such as language barriers and newcomer status. Due to the small sample of participants, this study can be considered as a starting point for further research in this area. We hope that the findings of this study can inform improvements in abortion services for this population, as well as shed light on some of the debates underway regarding sex-selective abortion practices. La recherche qui est disponible sur les pratiques d'avortement chez les femmes punjabi met l'accent sur le phénomène de l'avortement sélectif dans les populations asiatiques. À ce jour, il n'y a pas de recherches publiées sur les expériences d'avortement du femmes Punjabi vivant au Canada. L'objectif de cette étude qualitative est de combler cette lacune dans la littérature et faire la lumière sur les expériences d'avortement de femmes punjabi en Ontario et en Colombie-Brittanique. Par le biais d'entrevues en profondeur avec les femmes punjabi et d'entrevues avec les informateurs clés impliqués dans l'avortement disposition, cette étude documente les expériences d’avortement des femmes punjabi au Canada et les expériences des informateurs clés qui desservent cette population. Quatre femmes punjabi et trois informateurs clés ont été interviewés en Ontario et en Colombie-Britannique. Les résultats suggèrent que les expériences d'avortement des femmes punjabi sont très similaires à ceux des femmes canadiennes en general. Bien qu'aucun des participants n’avaient eux-mêmes l’avortement sélectif, les femmes ont décrit leurs perceptions de cette pratique dans la communauté punjabi. En outre, les femmes Punjabi ont suggéré des améliorations dans les options de grossesse counseling, la disponibilité de l'avortement médicamenteux et l'adaptation des emplois. Les experiences des informateurs clés qui desservent cette population diffèrent en fonction de l'emplacement de l'avortement et la démographie de cette région. Touts les informateurs clés ont suggéré des améliorations à surmonter des défis tels que les barrières linguistiques et statut de nouveau venu. En raison du petit échantillon de participants, cette étude peut être considérée comme un point de départ pour d'autres recherches dans ce domaine. Nous espérons que les conclusions de cette étude peuvent orienter des améliorations dans les services d'avortement pour cette population, ainsi que de faire la lumière sur certains des débats en cours au sujet des pratiques de l'avortement sélectif.

This phenomenological study examined the experience of miscarriage from the couple's perspective. The study participants were six couples who had miscarried within four weeks of the initial interview. Data were collected in interviews and were analyzed concurrently. Themes were identified and validated by the couples as the interviews progressed. Findings from analysis confirmed that couples grieve following a miscarriage. This grief experience is represented by a composite of four interacting motifs called Discovery, Disclosure, Definition and Decision. Each motif is characterized by dominant emotions and behaviours. The composite interacts with the external theme of Health Care Interactions. Findings supported assertions that individuals within the couple relationship grieve incongruently. The grief experience is facilitated or hampered by the quality of health care interactions the couple experiences. Couples identified needs that were unmet during the experience particularly the need to talk through the experience at a later time and the need to have their losses acknowledged by their health care givers. Differences in Discovery were found between couples who had a prodromal phase of miscarriage and those who had a missed abortion. Couples who had a missed abortion experienced confusion in addition to the shock and disbelief encountered at this time. Findings also supported the assertion that grief following a miscarriage is generally resolved within twelve weeks. This description of the grief experience following a miscarriage will assist nurses to provide couple-centred care to facilitate resolution of their grief. Implications for practice, research and education are described to enhance the nurse's ability to provide more effective care to miscarrying couples. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

No description available.

Even though abortion is legal, the implementation of access to safe abortion is extremely complex and depends on the socio-economic and political context. In Tunisia, abortion has been legal for 50 years, yet the country still struggles with implementing safe abortion into health care services. The main aim of this thesis is to examine what problems to abortion access women face in Tunisia. This is done through a qualitative content analysis of five Tunisian NGOs, focusing on what they present as the problems, but also what they present as the reasons and the solution to these issues. Using political culture and the conceptualisation of abortion stigma as theoretical framework, this study explores whether attitudes toward abortion in society is congruent with the liberal abortion law and policies, as a way of understanding how women can have problems accessing abortion. The findings are that according to NGOs, women have trouble getting abortions due to economical, organisational, ideological, and political reasons: The emergence of conservative forces, consequences of economic struggles, the lack of information, discrimination from health providers, and lack of attention from the state make abortion services in the public sector increasingly difficult to obtain. More than previous research, the NGOs touched upon intersectional vulnerability as a reason for increased difficulties for women and an issue that needed to be resolved. These results open up for future research on the viewpoint of NGOs, as well as the ‘access paradox’ of abortion implementation.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. Johannesburg, 2016 / This dissertation argues that the representation of abortion provides a platform which reveals women’s societal and gendered positions, and provides a critique of the hypocritical attitudes to which societies subject women. I will be considering various representations of abortion in six films and two television shows. The films are Alexander Kluge’s Part-Time Work of a Domestic Slave (1973), Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007), Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake (2004), Fruit Chan’s Dumplings (2004), The Pang Brother’s Re-Cycle (2006) and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus (2012). The two television shows are FX’s American Horror Story (2011—) and ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (2005—). Each text provides a unique representation of abortion, often situating the issue within particular physical, social, political and cultural locations. In presenting a close reading of each text, I will show how the representation of abortion in each chapter relates to differing social, political and cultural ideologies. I will argue that there is a developing sense of the lived realities of women, which include, but are not limited to, issues of alienation, autonomy, agency and identity. Such lived realties, I will contend, are constructed within societies that, aware or not of the fact, are dominated by patriarchal influences. / MT2017

Literature, particularly institutional approaches, emphasizes that parliamentary systems like Canada have avoided controversial morality policy issues including - and perhaps especially - abortion. This, however, fails to account for historical and contemporary developments in Canadian abortion policy and politics at the federal level. More specifically, it fails to adequately conceptualize how governments engage with abortion in practice, such as with the introduction of the omnibus bills in the 1960s and C-43 in 1989, as well as the increasing use of abortion as a political weapon in election campaigns and party politics. Using framing theory and the concepts of politicisation and depoliticisation, this dissertation fills this gap by unpacking how Canada’s federal governments have managed abortion policy and politics from 1966 to 2019, both in discourse and in concrete actions in parliament. More precisely, the federal government's evolving discourses (stories) and actions on the abortion issue were examined through sources that span the 1960s up to 2019, including parliamentary transcripts (Hansard), parliamentary committee transcripts (Evidence) and reports, cabinet documents, and interviews. This dissertation presents an original typology to facilitate a more dynamic understanding of (de)politicisation. It categorizes politicising and depoliticising movements according to how actors use the dimensions of time, space, and capacity to delay, defer and establish limits to their agency in depoliticising procedural action or discourse, or to emphasize an issue on the agenda, claim jurisdiction or responsibility, and establish authority and capability in politicising procedural action or discourse. This yields a more dynamic understanding of how governments have managed the abortion issue over time, demonstrating how governments and their representatives have used - often simultaneously - both politicising and depoliticising actions and discourses. This management, which may be intended to dampen controversy, can also result in uneasy and even contradictory discourses and actions that may generate new sources of conflict. Capturing this dynamism affirms that governments do not simply "avoid" or "engage" with abortion, but that their positions are unsteady and often contradictory, moving back-and-forth - often simultaneously - in their efforts to manage the issue. Using this typology, this dissertation maps out the evolving discourses and approaches through which the federal government approached abortion over time. It argues that, through the 1960s to 1980s, the government approached abortion as a policy problem that required a legislative solution. Beginning in the 1990s and becoming more prominent in the 2000 election and thereafter, the government began using abortion as a political weapon, which served to demarcate Liberal Party values against conservative parties, and vice versa. This dissertation contributes by expanding (de)politicisation theory through its typology, creating a means to analyse the complex and interactive relationship between (de)politicisation, as well as contributing a Canadian case study to the primarily British and Eurocentric depoliticisation literature. This dissertation also bridges the gap between morality policy literature and (de)politicisation, which may be fruitful for additional study into how political actors manage morality policy issues. Empirically, this dissertation offers a comprehensive history of Canada's federal policy and politics of abortion over the past half century, documenting the significant shifts in the discourses and approaches of federal governments on this contentious issue.