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The lesser shame: abortion among educated women in southern Cameroon

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  • Johnson-Hanks, Jennifer

Abstract

Educated women in southern Cameroon both condemn abortion and practice it with some regularity. This apparent paradox arises because educated Cameroonian women use abortion as one of a set of strategies to manage the timing and social context of entry into motherhood. This paper is based on a body of research which included a demographic life history survey (N=184), open-ended narrative interviews (N=37), and participant observation over 10 months. The survey data included 61 reported abortions, giving a lower-bound estimate of the crude abortion rate of 19 per thousand woman-years of life. In southern Cameroon, sexual activity is socially tolerated in a wide variety of non-marital relationships, while childbearing is not. Thus, most of my informants, including those who reported having aborted, say that abortion is shameful; however, they view its moral and social consequences as less grave than those of a severely mistimed entry into socially recognized motherhood. That is, abortion persists in southern Cameroon because it is the lesser shame.

Suggested Citation

  • Johnson-Hanks, Jennifer, 2002. "The lesser shame: abortion among educated women in southern Cameroon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(8), pages 1337-1349, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:55:y:2002:i:8:p:1337-1349
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Zamo-Akono, C. & Tsafack-Nanfosso, R., 2008. "Fécondité, Santé et Participation des femmes au Marché du Travail," MPRA Paper 10839, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Seydou Drabo, 2020. "Beyond ‘Family Planning’—Local Realities on Contraception and Abortion in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-15, November.
    3. Sarah K. Cowan, 2013. "Cohort Abortion Measures for the United States," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 39(2), pages 289-307, June.
    4. Rossier, Clémentine & Guiella, George & Ouédraogo, Abdoulaye & Thiéba, Blandine, 2006. "Estimating clandestine abortion with the confidants method--results from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 254-266, January.
    5. Samuel H Nyarko & Lloyd Potter, 2021. "Levels and socioeconomic correlates of nonmarital fertility in Ghana," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(2), pages 1-13, February.
    6. 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).
    7. 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.
    8. Aniema Atorudibo, 2021. "Marriage Norms and Fertility Outcomes in Developing Countries," Studies in Economics 2101, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    9. Clémentine Rossier, 2007. "Attitudes towards abortion and contraception in rural and urban Burkina Faso," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 17(2), pages 23-58.
    10. 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.
    11. Suh, Siri, 2014. "Rewriting abortion: Deploying medical records in jurisdictional negotiation over a forbidden practice in Senegal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 20-33.
    12. Leslie Root & Jennifer Johnson-Hanks†, 2016. "Gender, Honor, and Aggregate Fertility," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 904-928, September.
    13. Jaffré, Yannick & Suh, Siri, 2016. "Where the lay and the technical meet: Using an anthropology of interfaces to explain persistent reproductive health disparities in West Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 175-183.

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