Subjective meanings of ‘unintended’ pregnancy

Interviews from understanding fertility management in contemporary Australia

Dados Bibliográficos

ID15098680
AutoresMaggie Kirkman (0000-0003-0976-0260, Monash University, autor correspondente), Claire Stubber (0000-0001-8668-7402, Monash University), Heather Rowe (0000-0002-3664-6167, Monash University), Sara Holton (0000-0001-9294-7872, Monash University), Chris Bayly (Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia), Lynne Jordan (0000-0003-2548-6361, Family Planning Victoria, Melbourne, Australia), John McBain (0000-0002-8677-794X, Melbourne IVF, Melbourne, Australia), Kathleen Mcnamee (0000-0001-7112-8202, Family Planning Victoria, Melbourne, Australia), Vikki Sinnott (0000-0003-0879-5197, Victorian Government Department of Health, Melbourne, Australia), Jane Fisher (0000-0002-1959-6807, Monash University)
Ano2017
Volume19
Fascículo2
Páginas179-193
Data de publicação2017-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCulture Health & Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1369-1058 • E-ISSN: 1464-5351
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13691058.2016.1214287
PMID27684303
OpenAlexW2517819614
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas46

Unintended pregnancy can be difficult to identify and conceptualise. We aimed to understand how unintended pregnancies are constructed, explained and situated in a reproductive life. A total of 41 women and 7 men aged 20-50 years were interviewed in depth. Transcripts were analysed using iterative hermeneutic techniques informed by narrative theory. Of 34 participants who had been pregnant or had a partner in pregnancy, 12 women and 1 man described 23 'unintended' pregnancies, about half of which ended in abortion. Their accounts reveal that an unintended pregnancy is identified subjectively, that the same pregnancy may be identified by one partner in the pregnancy as unintended and by the other as intended, and that a researcher's supposedly objective assessment of an unintended pregnancy may be inconsistent with the assessment of the woman who experienced it. A pejorative discourse was evident, predominantly among participants who did not report having an unintended pregnancy: women use an 'unintended' pregnancy to entrap men. Accounts from five participants reporting an unintended pregnancy were selected for illustration. An appreciation of the role such a pregnancy might play in an individual life requires a nuanced understanding of the complexity of human experience and a resistance to simple binary categorisation

Abortion · Family planning · Fertility · Pejorative · Political science · Population · Pregnancy · Sociology · Unintended consequences · Unintended pregnancy · Demography · Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse · Medicine · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Contraception · Reproductive Health and Technologies · Social Psychology