"I mean, I didn't really have a choice of anything:" How incarceration influences abortion decision-making and precludes access in the United States.
Perspect Sex Reprod Health
; 55(3): 165-177, 2023 09.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37394626
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To understand how the punitive, rights-limiting, and racially stratified environment of incarceration in the United States (US) shapes the abortion desires, access, and pregnancy experiences of pregnant women, transgender men, and gender non-binary individuals.METHODS:
From May 2018-November 2020, we conducted semi-structured, qualitative interviews with pregnant women in prisons and jails in an abortion supportive and an abortion restrictive state. Interviews explored whether participants considered abortion for this pregnancy; attempted to obtain an abortion in custody; whether and how incarceration affected their thoughts about pregnancy, birth, parenting, and abortion; and options counseling and prenatal care experiences, or lack thereof, in custody.RESULTS:
The conditions of incarceration deeply shaped our 39 participants' abortion and pregnancy decisions, with some experiencing pregnancy continuation as punishment. Four themes emerged (1) medical providers' overt obstruction of desired abortions; (2) participants assuming that incarcerated women had no right to abortion; (3) carceral bureaucracy constraining abortion access; and (4) carceral conditions made women wish they had aborted. Themes were similar in supportive and restrictive states.CONCLUSIONS:
Incarceration shaped participants' thoughts about pregnancy and their abilities to access abortion, consider whether abortion was an attainable option, and make pregnancy-related decisions. These subtle carceral control aspects presented more frequent barriers to abortion than overt logistical ones. The carceral environment played a more significant role than the state's overall abortion climate in shaping abortion experiences. Incarceration constrains and devalues reproductive wellbeing in punitive ways that are a microcosm of broader forces of reproductive control in US society.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Contexto em Saúde:
5_ODS3_mortalidade_materna
Problema de saúde:
5_maternal_care
Assunto principal:
Aborto Induzido
/
Pessoas Transgênero
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
Limite:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Pregnancy
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Perspect Sex Reprod Health
Assunto da revista:
SERVICOS DE PLANEJAMENTO FAMILIAR
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos