Abortion vs.
Abortion Stigma

It is imperative to know the aortion and reproductive healthcare facts. Abortion vs. Abortion stigma.

Abortion

A common and relatively safe medical procedure. There is no evidence that an abortion procedure causes mental health problems.

Abortion stigma

The stigma from having an abortion, and not the abortion itself, can have harmful consequences physically, mentally, and emotionally.

The abortion itself is not the problem. The stigma is the poison. The stigma causes the suffering.

Yet, abortion stigma can have negative mental health outcomes (Major et al., 2009).

Abortion stigma does not only affect the individual who had an abortion, but their partners, support systems, and even individuals who have thought about having an abortion but didn’t get one. Abortion stigma is pervasive.

1 in

4

US women will have an abortion in their lifetime.

This data shows that abortion is not uncommon. And this only captures the reported data. But there are abortions happening that we may not know about.

Abortion is a safe and common medical procedure (Jones st al., 2019).

Abortion stigma does not only affect the individual who had an abortion, but their partners, support systems, and even individuals who have thought about having an abortion but didn’t get one. Abortion stigma is pervasive.

I know I have been talking a lot about “women” and “womanhood”

We must honor and respect:

1

There are multiple diverse abortion experiences and stories that individuals encounter.

3

Abortion stigma is deeply entrenched and rooted in gender and racial inequity, oppression, and toxic patriarchy.

2

Not every individual who has an abortion will struggle with abortion stigma.

4

People who are not heterosexual or cisgender have abortions and may experience abortion stigma.

The research around abortion stigma is very slim.

And I want to honor these areas of big important that are even more at a loss around abortion stigma research.

To truly understand abortion stigma, you must know these things

ONE: read slide. The topic of abortion is politicized. Black and white. Pro-life or pro-choice. And if you’re anywhere in the middle, you may be not accepted on either side.

TWO: Having an abortion does not equate to experiencing abortion stigma.

THREE: As stated earlier, the pressures and expectations of what a woman is in society. The binary and patriarchal structures are social constructs. Abortion stigma only exists because these structures exist.

FOUR: Most abortion research and reproductive healthcare has focused on heterosexual cisgender women.

the transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive population who are intersex, or were assigned female at birth, have abortions, experience pregnancies, and need as comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare (Moseson et al., 2020). Additionally, cisgender sexual minority women (non-heterosexual women) are often overlooked in abortion research (Moseson et al., 2020).
Most of the language used in sexual and reproductive healthcare is cis-normative and neglects vulnerable communities that already experience discrimination and potential stigmatization (Stroumsa & Wu, 2018).
It is imperative that the full range of gender identities and sexual orientations are acknowledged in the research around abortion stigma.
This dissertation’s focus is on individuals who experience abortion stigma in connection to abortions from unintended pregnancies.
There are abortion experiences due to fetal anomalies or to save the pregnant individual’s health, and individuals who experience stigma from miscarriage are all important aspects to consider, but this is not the focus of the dissertation.
There was not enough research around these areas, so my dissertation is A STARTING POINT. BECAUSE WE HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE.