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. 2018 Sep 10;15(1):150.
doi: 10.1186/s12978-018-0597-1.

"It's something that marks you": Abortion stigma after decriminalization in Uruguay

Roosbelinda Cárdenas  1   2 , Ana Labandera  3 , Sarah E Baum  4 , Fernanda Chiribao  3 , Ivana Leus  3 , Silvia Avondet  3 , Jennifer Friedman  5
Affiliations

"It's something that marks you": Abortion stigma after decriminalization in Uruguay

Roosbelinda Cárdenas et al. Reprod Health. .

Abstract

Background: Abortion stigma is experienced by women seeking abortion services and by abortion providers in a range of legal contexts, including Uruguay, where abortion was decriminalized up to 12 weeks gestation in 2012. This paper analyzes opinions and attitudes of both abortion clients and health professionals approximately two years following decriminalization and assesses how abortion stigma manifests among these individuals and in institutions that provide care.

Methods: In 2014, we conducted twenty in-depth, semi-structured interviews with abortion clients (n = 10) and health care professionals (n = 10) in public and private facilities across Uruguay's health system. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and then coded for thematic analysis.

Results: We find that both clients and health professionals express widespread satisfaction with the implementation of the new law. However, there exist critical points in the service where stigmatizing ideas and attitudes continue to be reproduced, such as the required five-day waiting period and in interactions with hospital staff who do not support access to the service. We also document the prevalence of stigmatizing ideas around abortion that continue to circulate outside the clinical setting.

Conclusion: Despite the benefits of decriminalization, abortion clients and health professionals still experience abortion stigma.

Keywords: Abortion; Abortion stigma; Decriminalization; Latin America; Uruguay.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All participants in this study were explained the objectives and risks in this study and gave their consent to participate.

This study was approved by the Allendale Investigational Review Board (Old Lyme, CT, USA).

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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