The Medical History of Abortion in South Africa, c. 1970–2000
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11906144 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rebecca Hodes (0000-0002-2502-803X, University of Cape Town, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 527-542 |
| Publication date | 2013-09-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070.2013.824770 |
| OpenAlex | W2007693486 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
This article explores the medical history of abortion in South Africa during the last three decades of the twentieth century, focusing on the role played by doctors in their clinical encounters with abortion patients. It also examines doctors' views of the state's contested policies on abortion, while locating these policies within the wider global movement towards the legalisation of abortion. Many doctors and public health officials employed by the apartheid state occupied an ambiguous space, taking a racist and paternalistic approach to their patients, while also providing the services these patients demanded for the protection of their health, including contraception and abortion. I combine the analysis of medical articles, laws and policies governing abortion with the oral-historical recollections of doctors, to examine how changes in abortion laws were understood in medical writing and practice during this time. Two key issues dominated public debates about abortion from the 1970s: the procurement of abortion on psychiatric grounds and the health outcomes of illegal abortions. Ultimately, changes in abortion laws reflected the political transition from apartheid to democracy, during a period in which political leaders and women's health advocates championed the legalisation of abortion despite public opposition
Abortion · Abortion law · Democracy · Economic growth · Environmental health · Family planning · Medical abortion · Misoprostol · Opposition (politics · Paternalism · Political science · Politics · Population · Pregnancy · Public health · Research methodology · Sociology · State (computer science · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Reproductive Health and Contraception
The Culture of Illegal Abortion in South Africa
Attitudes toward abortion, social welfare programs, and gender roles in the U.S. and South Africa
The global proliferation of radical gynaecological surgeries
Abortion attitudes among South Africans
Pharmaceuticals and modern statecraft in South Africa
Creative Ferment’
Trajectories of women's abortion-related care
Negotiations of Blame and Care among HIV-positive Mothers and Daughters in South Africa's Eastern Cape
Backward Capitalism in RuralSouthAfrica
| Citations per year | 0.9 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2016 - 2023 (8) |
| Highly cited | No |