Return to search

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back : A minor field study of women in Nicaragua's perception of the law which criminalizes therapeutic abortion

This master's thesis is based on a Minor Field Study (MFS) and conducted in Nicaragua during seven weeks in the spring of 2011. Nicaragua has since 2006 been given international attention due to the National Assembly's decision to criminalize the previously allowed therapeutic abortion. The procedure could be used by women whose pregnancies turned out to be life threatening is now considered illegal and can result in years of imprisonment, both for women and doctors.This study focus upon the perception and opinions regarding this law among women living in Nicaragua. Distinction was made between women living in rural and urban settings. Further, women employed within organizations were chosen as a final group of interest. The aim of the study has been to explore if these women's perception have resulted in different levels of frustration and further how this variation in frustration can be explained. The study is mainly based on interviews conducted with these three groups of women. Relative deprivation was used as an analytical framework in order to explain how women's frustration could vary.It can be concluded that there were large differences in women's awareness and knowledge of the law and rural women appeared to have a rather small perceived frustration. The deprivation increased among women in urban areas, but became most intense among women active within organizations. The study has shown that religiosity, awareness and information about the law and its consequences, organization activity and to some extent level of education have the possibilities of affecting the level of frustration. The present frustration towards the law which criminalize therapeutic abortion is however not sufficient to cause collective violence or a similar reaction.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-26164
Date January 2012
CreatorsSellberg, Johanna
PublisherLinnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper, SV
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Page generated in 0.002 seconds