Negotiating the social and medical dangers of abortion in Addis Ababa: An exploration of young, unmarried women's abortion-seeking journeys.

Unmarried, young women constitute a significant proportion of women who undergo unsafe abortion in Ethiopia. Based on material from an ethnographic study, the experiences of young, unmarried women who had been admitted to the hospital in the aftermath of an unsafe, clandestine abortion are explored in this article. The routes the young women followed in their search of abortion services and the concerns and realities they had to negotiate and navigate are at the fore. Despite their awareness of the dangers involved in clandestine and illegal abortion, the young women felt they had no choice but to use medically unsafe abortion services. Two reasons for this are highlighted: such services were affordable and, significantly, they were considered socially safe in that the abortion remained unknown to others and the stigma of abortion and its consequences could hence be avoided. In situations in which choices had to be made, social safety trumped medical safety. This indicates a need for abortion services that address both the medical and social safety concerns of young women in need of such services.

The tale of the hearts: deciding on abortion in Ethiopia.

In contemporary Ethiopia, abortion decision-making is a challenging process involving moral and/or religious dilemmas, as well as considerations of health and safety. Amidst widespread condemnation of female premarital sex and clear moral sanction against induced abortion, young Ethiopian women are nevertheless sexually active and induced abortions are still sought and performed, with the potential for grave physical harm and social stigmatization. This paper examines young unmarried Ethiopian women's narratives of abortion decision-making. In particular, it identifies and explores the operations of a particular discursive shape from within in such narratives, here described as The tale of the hearts. Analysing The tale of the hearts as a decision-making resource, it is argued, allows us to explore the particular, local, historical and cultural character of Ethiopian women's abortion decision-making dilemmas and the culturally available resources contributing to their resolution.