Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Post-abortion support groups are a new sub-movement or strategy of the broader anti-abortion movement that provide support to women who understand their prior abortions as problematic. These groups construct abortion as a form of trauma that causes post-abortion syndrome (PAS), a broad array of negative mental health and behavioral problems similar to post-traumatic stress disorder. Although these claims are not substantiated by empirical evidence, claims that abortion causes PAS are increasingly featured in the public domain to bolster national anti-abortion claims that abortion represents a public health issue. A majority of PAS support groups are offered by crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) affiliated with one of two national pregnancy resource centers whose approach to healing from abortion reflects the increased presence and influence of evangelical women in the CPC movement. The increased presence of evangelical women in the CPC movement is reflected in the growing influence of conservative Christian beliefs in the support services offered by CPCs in general and PAS groups specifically. This research examined a PAS group in Mississippi sponsored by an evangelical CPC affiliated with Care Net, a national pregnancy resource center, to understand the motivations of women who participate in a PAS group, how PAS group participation shapes participants’ understandings of abortion to conform to broader anti-abortion claims that abortion is a public health issue, and how PAS claims are diffused into the public domain. To discern the relationship between PAS groups and broader anti-abortion claims, I analyze state and national media coverage of the 2011 Mississippi political campaign in which voters overwhelmingly defeated a constitutional amendment to pass a personhood amendment to confer legal status to the fetus. Together these analyses show how evangelical groups are working through legislative and individual-level processes to shape the abortion debate and climate in contemporary American society.

This study focuses on the lived experience of four women who have undergone induced abortions. The women are white, Afrikaans speaking and from a middle to upper class background. Their ages range from 38 to 45 years. It was expected that these women would reflect and articulate their experiences in their own ways. This study was therefore of a qualitative nature. More specifically, the methodology used was a phenomenological exploration of the lived experience of each woman. The primary aim of this study was, therefore, to understand the experiences of women who have undergone induced abortions, using a qualitative form of enquiry. The acknowledgement of abortion as a potentially ambivalent experience allows one to consider the abortion process as complex, and that different women in different contexts will have both unique and common reactions to abortion. This study utilized theories of motherhood, gender and reproduction to explore the various contexts. The themes of guilt, isolation and anger that emerged were experienced by all the women, but each one not only experienced them differently but also contextualized them differently. Some general suggestions for future research are offered: exploring the different ways in which women deal with this situation could be helpful in working with those who might present with psychological symptoms. This would be particularly helpful to the role which psychologists could play in dealing with women who have undergone an abortion. The importance of support and acceptance is highlighted in this study. With the change in legislation regarding abortion, it would be helpful to consider the attitudes of the health professionals who may encounter women having abortions. In addition it is important to consider post-abortion counselling. Post abortion feelings could be normalized by explaining to women that reactions are not uni-dimensional and that positive and negative reactions are to be expected. As stated, some women do experience negative symptoms post-abortion and more research is needed to examine in depth the experience of these women. Longitudinal studies and narrative research could be beneficial in this regard. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The diploma thesis deals with the connection between human conscience and the Post Abortion Syndrome that is described in selected sources. The aim is an analysis of the role of the conscience in Post Abortive Syndrome. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter deals with the concept of conscience and its value in our lives as well as the question of when and how our conscience affects our behaviour. The next text focuses on the connection of our conscience and actions as well as our decision making. This connection is described from philosophical, theological and psychological points of view. The second chapter focuses on abortion and the difference between miscarriage and abortion. Furthermore, the reasons for undergoing abortion, methods of abortion, and possible consequences are described. The third chapter deals with the Post Abortion Syndrome, its definition and symptoms, and information how to help affected women. In the last chapter are summarized the information and is presented the connection between conscience and Post Abortive Syndrome. The information from primary and secondary sources is supplemented with interviews with professional who come in touch with women affected by the Post Abortive Syndrome. These interviews are very valuable for deeper insight.

Much of the research on abortion is concerned with determining women’s psychological outcomes post-abortion. There is a small, but increasing, body of research around women’s experiences of abortion (conducted predominantly in Scandinavian countries where abortion laws are liberal). However, research around the decision-making process regarding abortion, particularly research that locates the decision to have an abortion within the economic, religious, social, political, and cultural aspects of women’s lives and that looks at women’s narratives, is virtually non-existent. Drawing on Foucauldian and feminist post-structuralism as well as a narrative-discursive approach, this study sought to explore women’s micro-narratives of the abortion decision-making process in terms of the discourses used to construct these micro-narratives and the subject positions made available within these discourses. This study also sought to determine whether the power relations referred to by participants contributed to unsupported and unsupportable pregnancies and the implications this had for reproductive justice. Purposive sampling was used to recruit a total of 25 participants from three different abortion facilities in the Eastern Cape. Participants were ‘Black’ women, mostly unemployed and unmarried with ages ranging between 19 and 35 years old. In analysing and interpreting participants’ narratives, the picture that emerged was an over-arching narrative in which women described the abortion decision as something that they were ‘forced’ into by their circumstances. To construct this narrative, women justified the decision to have an abortion by drawing on discourses that normalise certain practices located within the husband-wife and parent-child axes and make the pregnancy a problematic, unsupported and unsupportable one. Gendered and generational power relations reinforced this and contributed to the denial of reproductive justice

The thesis deals with the issue of spontaneous abortion as well as induced termination of pregnancy and its potential negative impacts on woman's mental and physical health. The theoretical part summarizes the findings about particular kinds of pregnancy loss and defines the possibilities of psychological adaptation to this loss. The author paid the close attention to Post-abortion syndrome (PAS), which is regarded as a special form of Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder. The thesis is further focused on the emotional, social, psychological and physical effects following abortion, the most threatened group of women with a higher probability of having PAS and finally the way of medical treatment. In the empirical part, the main symptoms of PAS were detected by means of the Helpline database analysis. Detection of these syndromes enabled to compile the questionnaire related to pregnancy loss. The main task was to discover the perceived changes in a woman's life after the pregnancy loss. In the final part of the work, the questionnaire regarding pregnancy loss had been tested and finally the main benefits together with limits had been critically evaluated.

In 1996 the South African government legalised the termination of pregnancy (TOP) services, allowing women to choose to terminate unplanned pregnancies at designated facilities. Although TOP services are available, pregnant women continue to use illegal abortion services, with potentially life-risking consequences. The purpose of this study was to identify challenges encountered by women requesting TOP services, and to make recommendations for improved policies and practices, enabling more women in the North West Province (NWP) to access TOP services. This was a non-experimental, exploratory, descriptive and quantitative study. Structured interviews were conducted with 150 women who had used TOP services in phase 1, with 50 women who were unable to access TOP services in phase 2 and with 20 professional nurses providing TOP services in the NWP in phase 3. In phase 1, 96.0% (n=144) of the women needed transport to access TOP services, and 73.2% (n=109) indicated that nurses put women’s names on waiting lists, posing barriers to such access in the NWP. In phase 2, 92.0% (n=46) of these respondents had reportedly requested TOPs for the first time, but 89.0% (n=44) could not access TOP services. In phase 3, only 14 out of 19 designated facilities in the NWP, and only 20 nurses, provided TOP services during the study period. Out of the 20 interviewed nurses, 74.0% (n=14) regarded the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, Act 92 of 1996 (CTOP Act) was being unclear requiring a revision. These professional nurses provided TOP services in NWP, by choice. Unless more facilities and more nurses can provide TOP services to the women of the NWP, these services will continue to remain inaccessible, necessitating the continued utilisation of illegal abortion services, in spite of the TOP Act’s prescriptions. It is also recommended that management will provide sufficient support and training opportunities for professional nurses working in TOP services in the NWP. / Health Studies / (D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies))

In 1996 the South African government legalised the termination of pregnancy (TOP) services, allowing women to choose to terminate unplanned pregnancies at designated facilities. Although TOP services are available, pregnant women continue to use illegal abortion services, with potentially life-risking consequences. The purpose of this study was to identify challenges encountered by women requesting TOP services, and to make recommendations for improved policies and practices, enabling more women in the North West Province (NWP) to access TOP services. This was a non-experimental, exploratory, descriptive and quantitative study. Structured interviews were conducted with 150 women who had used TOP services in phase 1, with 50 women who were unable to access TOP services in phase 2 and with 20 professional nurses providing TOP services in the NWP in phase 3. In phase 1, 96.0% (n=144) of the women needed transport to access TOP services, and 73.2% (n=109) indicated that nurses put women’s names on waiting lists, posing barriers to such access in the NWP. In phase 2, 92.0% (n=46) of these respondents had reportedly requested TOPs for the first time, but 89.0% (n=44) could not access TOP services. In phase 3, only 14 out of 19 designated facilities in the NWP, and only 20 nurses, provided TOP services during the study period. Out of the 20 interviewed nurses, 74.0% (n=14) regarded the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, Act 92 of 1996 (CTOP Act) was being unclear requiring a revision. These professional nurses provided TOP services in NWP, by choice. Unless more facilities and more nurses can provide TOP services to the women of the NWP, these services will continue to remain inaccessible, necessitating the continued utilisation of illegal abortion services, in spite of the TOP Act’s prescriptions. It is also recommended that management will provide sufficient support and training opportunities for professional nurses working in TOP services in the NWP. / Health Studies / (D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies))

Unintended and unwanted pregnancies are major reproductive health problems impacting negatively on women’s health globally. When faced with these pregnancies, many women choose termination of pregnancy (TOP) as their recourse. The purpose of the study was to explore and describe physical, psychological and social implications of TOP on the woman’s health. A qualitative and descriptive research design was used. The population comprised women who had TOP three months to one year before the study and were willing to participate in the study. A non-probability purposive sampling was used to select participants for the study. In-depth phenomenological interviews were used for data collection until data saturation was reached with 20 participants. The findings reveal that women had psychological, physical and social implications after TOP which impacted negatively on their health. Recommendations were made to improve the services of women choosing to terminate a pregnancy to lessen negative implications. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)