Women's Micro-Narratives of the Process of Abortion
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
WOMEN’S MICRO-NARRATIVES OF THE PROCESS OF ABORTION DECISION- MAKING: JUSTIFYING THE DECISION TO HAVE AN ABORTION A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SOCIAL SCIENCE of RHODES UNIVERSITY by JABULILE MARY-JANE JACE MAVUSO Supervisor: Professor Catriona Macleod November 2014 Abstract 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. Keywords: Post-structuralism, Abortion, Decision-making, Micro-narratives, Discourse i Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………….....i Table of contents …………………………………………………………………………………..ii List of tables and figures ………………………………………………………………………….v Glossary of terms …………………………………………………………………………………vi List of acronyms …………………………………………………………………………………vii Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………………………………viii Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...1 Rationale …………………………………………………………………………………………1 Reproductive justice framework………………………………………………………………….3 Context surrounding abortion in South Africa …………………………………………………..5 The present research …………………………………………………………………………….14 Notes on terminology …………………………………………………………………………...15 Overview of the chapters ……………………………………………………………………….16 Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………………..18 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………18 Social constructionism ………………………………………………………………………...18 Post-structural theory and Foucault’s power/knowledge nexus ……………………………….20 Post-structural theory and feminism …………………………………………………………...25 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………...30 Chapter 3: Literature review…………………………………………………………………..…32 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………….32 The discursive context in which abortion occurs: Stigma, attitudes and discourse ……………32 Experiences of abortion: Influences on the abortion decision …………………………………39 Reasons for abortion and factors leading to the abortion decision …………………………….42 Power relations: Who gets to decide? ………………………………………………………….45 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………..48 Chapter 4: Methodology…………………………………………………………………………..50 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………….50 Research questions/aims ……………………………………………………………………….51 Method………………………………………………………………………………………….51 ii Analysis and interpretation ……………………………………………………………………60 Ethics ………………………………………………………………………………………….64 Reflexivity …………………………………………………………………………………….69 Validation ……………………………………………………………………………………..78 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………….80 Chapter 5: Problematising the pregnancy………………………………………………………81 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………...81 ‘The conjugalisation of reproduction’ ………………………………………………………...81 ‘Interrelated discourses: ‘Motherhood’, Child-centred’ and ‘Family planning’ discourses…..85 ‘Unfair/unstable male partner relations’ ……………………………………………………...91 ‘The production of an economic self’ ………………………………………………………...93 A ‘choice’ discourse ………………………………………………………………………….95 A ‘religious/moral’ discourse ………………………………………………………………...98 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………….99 Chapter 6: An over-arching narrative: ‘I have to have an abortion…………………………101 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………….101 ‘I have to have an abortion’…………………………………………………………………..101 ‘I’m not ready to have a/another baby’………………………………………………………105 ‘I am thinking of my potential/existing child(ren)’ ………………………………………….106 ‘My parents would disapprove/be disappointed’ …………………………………………….107 ‘I am unemployed’ …………………………………………………………………………...109 ‘My partner disagreed/tried to talk me out of having an abortion’ ………………………….110 ‘My partner pressurized me/agrees about the decision’ ……………………………………....112 ‘This pregnancy was a mistake/not planned because I was coerced into having unprotected sex’………………………………………………………………………………………………...115 ‘Abortion is not an easy thing’ ………………………………………………………………...116 ‘I do not want a baby/another child’…………………………………………………………...118 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………....121 Chapter 7: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...122 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………...122 Overview of the research process …………………………………………………………….122 Unsupported and unsupportable pregnancies: a denial of reproductive justice ………………123 Narratives of silence …………………………………………………………………………..128 iii Limitations of the study ………………………………………………………………………130 Suggestions for future research ……………………………………………………………….131 References………………………………………………………………………………………...132 Appendix 1: Ian Parker’s (1992) transcription conventions…………………………………..148 Appendix 2: Cover letter for participant consent form ……………………………………….149 Appendix 3: Participant consent form…………………………………………………………..151 Appendix 4: Permission to tape record………………………………………………………….152 iv /LVWRIWDEOHVDQGILJXUHV 7DEOH&KDUDFWHULVWLFVRISDUWLFLSDQWVDW6LWH 7DEOH&KDUDFWHULVWLFVRISDUWLFLSDQWVDW6LWH 7DEOH&KDUDFWHULVWLFVRISDUWLFLSDQWVDW6LWH )LJXUH/D\HUHGQDUUDWLYHHIIHFW .................................................................................................... 56 v Glossary of terms Word Meaning Bf Boyfriend; slang; English Hheyi Exclamation used to call attention to something; used in several of the languages spoken by Black people in South Africa Ja Yes; Afrikaans but used ubiquitously in South Africa Mos Indeed; Afrikaans but used ubiquitously in South Africa Mxm Sound of extreme annoyance/irritation; used in several of the languages spoken by Black people in South Africa Neh Is it, isn’t it so; Afrikaans but used ubiquitously in South Africa vi List of acronyms CTOP Act Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act (No. 92 of 1996) HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus PAS Post-abortion Syndrome PTSD Post-traumatic Stress Disorder TOP Termination of Pregnancy vii Acknowledgments I would like to thank Catriona Macleod for her valuable supervision, guidance and contribution to this project. I acknowledge, and am grateful for, the important contributions made by the women who participated in this study. Thank you to my family as well as my friends and colleagues in the Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction house for your support, without which this project would not have been possible. Lastly, I acknowledge the funding received from the Mellon Foundation and the NRF. viii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µFKRLFH¶ )HQQHOO DQGDZRPDQ¶V DELOLW\DQGIUHHGRPWRPDNHUHSURGXFWLYHGHFLVLRQV 0H\HUV 5HVHDUFKFRQGXFWHGRQ DERUWLRQ RIWHQ SUHVHQWV WKH DERUWLRQ GHFLVLRQ LQ D ZD\ WKDW PDNHV XVH RI WKHVH YHU\ DVVXPSWLRQV $VVXPSWLRQV DERXW D ZRPDQ¶V DELOLW\ WR µGHFLGH¶ WR KDYH DQ DERUWLRQ KDV OHG WR WKH SURGXFWLRQ RI UHVHDUFK RQ DERUWLRQ WKDW KDV WHQGHG WR IRFXV RQ ³WKH DERUWLRQ LWVHOI DQG ZRPHQ¶V UHDVRQV IRU FKRRVLQJ DERUWLRQ DQG QRW PXFK WRZDUGV ZRPHQ¶V H[SHULHQFH RI DERUWLRQ DQG WKH GHFLVLRQ SURFHVV OHDGLQJ XS WR LW´ /LH 5REVRQ 0D\ DV FLWHG LQ .MHOVYLN *MHQJHGDO S 2WKHU UHVHDUFK DURXQG DERUWLRQ LQFOXGHV UHVHDUFK RQ DWWLWXGHV WR DERUWLRQ PRVWO\ FRQGXFWHGLQ WKH8QLWHG6WDWHV HJ /HDUPDQHW DO EXW DOVRFRQGXFWHGLQ6RXWK$IULFD VHH3DWHO 0\HQL DQGRWKHU$IULFDQFRXQWULHV HJ