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‘High profile health facilities can add to your trouble’: Women, stigma and un/safe abortion in Kenya

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  • Izugbara, Chimaraoke O.
  • Egesa, Carolyne
  • Okelo, Rispah

Abstract

Public health discourses on safe abortion assume the term to be unambiguous. However, qualitative evidence elicited from Kenyan women treated for complications of unsafe abortion contrasted sharply with public health views of abortion safety. For these women, safe abortion implied pregnancy termination procedures and services that concealed their abortions, shielded them from the law, were cheap and identified through dependable social networks. Participants contested the notion that poor quality abortion procedures and providers are inherently dangerous, asserting them as key to women's preservation of a good self, management of stigma, and protection of their reputation, respect, social relationships, and livelihoods. Greater public health attention to the social dimensions of abortion safety is urgent.

Suggested Citation

  • Izugbara, Chimaraoke O. & Egesa, Carolyne & Okelo, Rispah, 2015. "‘High profile health facilities can add to your trouble’: Women, stigma and un/safe abortion in Kenya," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 9-18.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:141:y:2015:i:c:p:9-18
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.07.019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Suh, Siri, 2020. "What post-abortion care indicators don't measure: Global abortion politics and obstetric practice in Senegal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    2. Solheim, I.H. & Moland, K.M. & Kahabuka, C. & Pembe, A.B. & Blystad, A., 2020. "Beyond the law: Misoprostol and medical abortion in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    3. Ernestina Coast & Samantha R Lattof & Yana van der Meulen Rodgers & Brittany Moore & Cheri Poss, 2021. "The microeconomics of abortion: A scoping review and analysis of the economic consequences for abortion care-seekers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-21, June.
    4. Coast, Ernestina & Murray, Susan F., 2016. "“These things are dangerous”: Understanding induced abortion trajectories in urban Zambia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 201-209.
    5. Sorhaindo, Annik Mahalia & Lavelanet, Antonella Francheska, 2022. "Why does abortion stigma matter? A scoping review and hybrid analysis of qualitative evidence illustrating the role of stigma in the quality of abortion care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    6. Coast, Ernestina & Norris, Alison H. & Moore, Ann M. & Freeman, Emily, 2018. "Trajectories of women's abortion-related care: A conceptual framework," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 199-210.

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