Beginning with eight women’s experiences in accessing emergency contraception from a
pharmacist, this research brings into view the undocumented “sexual health work” of obtaining
the drug in northern Ontario. Between 2005 and 2008, emergency contraception was deregulated
to behind-the-counter, forcing women to submit to mandatory counselling and screening about
sex, menstruation and contraception at the pharmacy. Situating unwanted pregnancy as harmful
in this context, an institutional ethnographic analysis explores the activities of health service
delivery and identifies the different ideological practices that shaped women’s access like the
steady creep of neoliberalism, professional specialization and clinical power. Ideological
discourses construct an ideal contraceptive user, who is patient, compliant and appears
“responsible”, contributing to the stigmatization of women. Findings suggest that an inaccurate
government definition of emergency contraception contributes to ignorance and misperceptions
about function; this, along with an empty federal policy vacuum for women’s health contributes
to its problematic status in women’s contraceptive options.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OSUL.10219/2179 |
| Date | 27 March 2014 |
| Creators | Fryer, Sara Anne |
| Publisher | Laurentian University of Sudbury |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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