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Query: UMLS:C0277787 (stigma)
 13,352 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A qualitative study was conducted in Agincourt, a rural area of South Africa, to document the perceptions and attitudes towards premarital fertility and late marriage among young adults of both sexes. Two focus groups and 35 individual interviews were conducted among 17-30 year olds, randomly selected. Most interviewees perceived premarital fertility as undesirable, and a new phenomenon in a context of major social changes, in particular loss of authority of parents and increasing freedom of the youth. In contrast, late marriage was perceived as positive, by both sexes, primarily for economic reasons. Much stigma was associated with premarital fertility, from friends, institutions and families who occasionally apply mild or severe sanctions. Consequences of premarital fertility were numerous: school abandonment, economic adversity, health risks, stigmatization. In extreme cases, premarital fertility might lead to exclusion and deviant behavior. Premarital fertility was ultimately due to a lack of contraception among young women, and to refusal of abortion for religious reasons, and is associated with the risk of contracting STD's.
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PMID:Social context of premarital fertility in rural South-Africa. 2069 45

HIV-positive women's abortion decisions were explored by: (i) investigating influencing factors; (ii) determining knowledge of abortion policy and public health services; and (iii) exploring abortion experiences. In-depth interviews were held with 24 HIV-positive women (15 had an abortion; 9 did not), recruited at public health facilities in Cape Town, South Africa. Negative perceptions towards HIV-positive pregnant women were reported. Women wanted abortions due to socio-economic hardship in conjunction with HIV-positive status. Respondents were generally aware that women in South Africa had a right to free abortions in public health facilities. Both positive and negative abortion experiences were described. Respondents reported no discrimination by providers due to their HIV-positive status. Most respondents reported not using contraceptives, while describing their pregnancies as 'unexpected'. The majority of women who had abortions wanted to avoid another one, and would encourage other HIV-positive women to try to avoid abortion. However, most felt abortions were acceptable for HIV-positive women in some circumstances. Data suggested that stigma and discrimination affect connections between abortion, pregnancy and HIV/AIDS, and that abortion may be more stigmatised than HIV/AIDS. Study results provide important insights, and any revision of reproductive health policy, services, counselling for abortion and HIV/AIDS care should address these issues.
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PMID:A qualitative exploration of HIV-positive pregnant women's decision-making regarding abortion in Cape Town, South Africa. 2140 94

Stigmatization is a deeply contextual, dynamic social process; stigma from abortion is the discrediting of individuals as a result of their association with abortion. Abortion stigma is under-researched and under-theorized, and the few existing studies focus only on women who have had abortions. We build on this work, drawing from the social science literature to describe three groups whom we posit are affected by abortion stigma: Women who have had abortions, individuals who work in facilities that provide abortion, and supporters of women who have had abortions, including partners, family, and friends, as well as abortion researchers and advocates. Although these groups are not homogeneous, some common experiences within the groups--and differences between the groups--help to illuminate how people manage abortion stigma and begin to reveal the roots of this stigma itself. We discuss five reasons why abortion is stigmatized, beginning with the rationale identified by Kumar, Hessini, and Mitchell: The violation of female ideals of sexuality and motherhood. We then suggest additional causes of abortion stigma, including attributing personhood to the fetus, legal restrictions, the idea that abortion is dirty or unhealthy, and the use of stigma as a tool for anti-abortion efforts. Although not exhaustive, these causes of abortion stigma illustrate how it is made manifest for affected groups. Understanding abortion stigma will inform strategies to reduce it, which has direct implications for improving access to care and better health for those whom stigma affects.
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PMID:Abortion stigma: a reconceptualization of constituents, causes, and consequences. 2153 Aug 40

The influence of pollen competitive environment on pollen performance (pollen germination, stigmatic penetration, and pollen tube growth rate), the maturation or abortion of initiated fruit, seed size, and seedling vigor was explored by manipulating the size and diversity of stigmatic pollen loads on Mirabilis jalapa. All aspects of pollen performance significantly increased with the number of pollen grains on a stigma or pollen tubes in a style, but was not influenced by the diversity of pollen donors. Plants tended to mature single-ovulate fruits that came from flowers where pollen load size and diversity were greatest and aborted those where these were lowest. No plants from seeds resulting from pollinations with a single pollen grain survived, but other fitness measures were mostly determined by maternal plant. The data suggest that pollen performance is influenced by pollen competitive environment, and both the genetic diversity of the pollen load and number of competing pollen tubes are important determinants of seed/fruit abortion.
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PMID:The effects of pollen load size and donor diversity on pollen performance, selective abortion, and progeny vigor in Mirabilis jalapa. 2168 Mar 63

A recent research study found that being more directly involved in medical abortion places greater demands on the nurses. The demands required by nurses working in abortion care may be increased by the stigma attached to such an antisocial action. This paper presents an application of stigma theory, as espoused by Goffman, based on a qualitative research study on abortion. It is argued that women attending for abortion are stigmatised and nurses, although 'wise', have an affiliate stigma through their close association with the procedure. It is proposed that the situation can be ameliorated by addressing stigma at policy, local and personal levels. Examples from other areas of practice are outlined for possible application to practice.
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PMID:Stigma in abortion care: application to a grounded theory study. 2169 83

Despite widespread awareness of and access to modern contraception, high rates of unwanted pregnancies and abortions still persist in many parts of the world, even where abortion is legally restricted. This article explores perspectives on contraception and abortion, contraceptive decision-making within relationships, and the management of unplanned pregnancies. It presents findings from an exploratory qualitative study based on 17 in-depth interviews and 6 focus group discussions conducted in 2 locations in Nigeria in 2006. The results suggest that couples do not practice contraception consistently because of perceived side effects and partner objections. Abortion is usually resorted to because pregnancy was unwanted due to incomplete educational attainment, economic hardship, immaturity, close pregnancy interval, and social stigma. Males usually have greater influence in contraceptive-decision making than females. Though induced abortion is negatively viewed in the community, it is still common, and women usually patronise quacks to obtain such services. An abortion experience can change future views and decisions towards contraception. Family planning interventions should include access to and availability of adequate family planning information. Educational campaigns should target males since they play an important role in contraceptive decision-making.
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PMID:Contraceptive practice, unwanted pregnancies and induced abortion in Southwest Nigeria. 2172 55

Although modern contraceptive use in Peru has increased, many women still face unwanted or unplanned pregnancies and abortions remain high despite the illegality of elective pregnancy termination. To improve understanding of how men and women make reproductive decisions, we conducted this study in Lima. Fifty-two 18-37 year old low- and middle-income women and men participated in in-depth interviews and focus groups. Reproductive planning constitutes a worry among participants. The paradigm of contraception, pregnancy, childbearing and pregnancy termination is complex and contained within a context of contradictory pressures toward women: while women feel the need to be autonomous in all realms of their lives, they also need to meet the traditional roles associated with sexuality and childbearing and rearing. The woman, her partner and family members take part in reproductive decisions. However, participants expressed difficulties preventing unwanted pregnancies and social stigma if they resorted to abortion or, interestingly, if they continued a pregnancy when involved in a socially undesirable personal situation. Abortion-related stigma generated fear and guilt in addition to safety concerns given the unsafe, clandestine contexts in which pregnancy termination takes place. Despite these concerns, interviewees often opted for abortion for personal reasons, which were primarily economic.
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PMID:The social constructions of unwanted pregnancy and abortion in Lima, Peru. 2173 7

It is well recognised that unsafe abortions have significant implications for women's physical health; however, women's perceptions and experiences with abortion-related stigma and disclosure about abortion are not well understood. This paper examines the presence and intensity of abortion stigma in five countries, and seeks to understand how stigma is perceived and experienced by women who terminate an unintended pregnancy and influences her subsequent disclosure behaviours. The paper is based upon focus groups and semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with women and men in Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru and the United States (USA) in 2006. The stigma of abortion was perceived similarly in both legally liberal and restrictive settings although it was more evident in countries where abortion is highly restricted. Personal accounts of experienced stigma were limited, although participants cited numerous social consequences of having an abortion. Abortion-related stigma played an important role in disclosure of individual abortion behaviour.
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PMID:Social stigma and disclosure about induced abortion: results from an exploratory study. 2174 33

Why is induced abortion common in environments in which modern contraception is readily available? This study analyses qualitative data collected from focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with women and men from low-income areas in five countries--the United States, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru and Mexico--to better understand how couples manage their pregnancy risk. Across all settings, women and men rarely weigh the advantages and disadvantages of contraception and abortion before beginning a sexual relationship or engaging in sexual intercourse. Contraception is viewed independently of abortion, and the two are linked only when the former is invoked as a preferred means to avoiding repeat abortion. For women, contraceptive methods are viewed as suspect because of perceived side effects, while abortion experience, often at significant personal risk to them, raises the spectre of social stigma and motivates better practice of contraception. In all settings, male partners figure importantly in pregnancy decisions and management. Although there are inherent study limitations of small sample sizes, the narratives reveal psychosocial barriers to effective contraceptive use and identify nodal points in pregnancy decision-making that can structure future investigations.
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PMID:Managing unplanned pregnancies in five countries: perspectives on contraception and abortion decisions. 2175 80

Unsafe abortion accounts for approximately 13% of maternal deaths worldwide-roughly 47,000 deaths per year. Most deaths from unsafe abortion occur in low-resource countries. Second-trimester abortion carries a higher risk of morbidity and mortality compared with first-trimester abortion and, although the former comprises the minority of abortion procedures worldwide, it is responsible for the majority of serious complications and death where unsafe abortion is prevalent. Therefore, improving access to safe second-trimester abortion must be a priority in low-income regions of the world if the majority of deaths from unsafe abortion are to be prevented. In the present paper, we consider a variety of barriers to second-trimester care, including healthcare provider training and abortion stigma, which may lead to neglect of unmet need for second-trimester services.
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PMID:Confronting the challenge of unsafe second-trimester abortion. 2182 Jan 15


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