When abortion becomes public - Everyday politics of reproduction in rural Zambia

Bibliographic Data

ID4593830
AuthorsMarte Emilie Sandvik Haaland (0000-0001-8253-2841, University of Bergen, corresponding author), Joseph Mumba Zulu (0000-0003-1480-4977, University of Zambia), Karen Marie Moland (0000-0003-1491-8595, University of Bergen), Haldis Haukanes (0000-0002-9961-1535, University of Bergen), Astrid Blystad (0000-0002-3199-4496, University of Bergen)
Year2020
Volume265
Pages113502
Publication date2020-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Science & Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113502
PMID33183861
OpenAlexW3095064615
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited49

This article takes the public reaction to the discovery of an aborted foetus in a rural Zambian community as the empirical starting point for exploring the everyday politics of reproduction. It builds on eleven months of ethnographic fieldwork on abortion and abortion policy in Zambia in 2017 and 2018, including participant observation in the community where the episode took place and interviews with clinic staff and neighbours. The article explores local dynamics of abortion opposition in a country where abortion is legally permitted on broad grounds. By analysing this case as an anthropological event, it discusses how opposition to abortion is dynamic and changes depending on the situation at hand. While abortions that avoid public attention may be silently tolerated, abortions that become openly known are harshly condemned. Through scrutiny of a specific case of collective moral judgement of abortion, the article examines how values like responsible motherhood, sexual virtue and protection of life emerge and are shared, allowing participants to protect and accumulate their own integrity in a moral economy that forges stronger social ties within the community. The article argues that even the harshest expressions of opposition to abortion may not be as categorical as they first appear. It calls for increased attention to dynamics of moral and political opposition to abortion to understand what is socially at stake for those who engage in it

Abortion · Ethnography · Moral economy · Opposition (politics · Participant observation · Political science · Politics · Pregnancy · Scrutiny · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Gender Studies · Law · Reproductive Health and Contraception · Reproductive Health and Technologies