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Moral Work and the Construction of Abortion Networks: Women’s Access to Safe Abortion in Lebanon

This study explores the intersectional effects of criminalization on women’s access to safe abortion in Lebanon. Building on 119 original interviews with women who have had an abortion and physicians who offer safe abortion services, the article analyzes women’s experiences through two themes: decis...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Fathallah, Zeina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Harvard University Press 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6927363/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31885433
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author Fathallah, Zeina
author_facet Fathallah, Zeina
author_sort Fathallah, Zeina
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description This study explores the intersectional effects of criminalization on women’s access to safe abortion in Lebanon. Building on 119 original interviews with women who have had an abortion and physicians who offer safe abortion services, the article analyzes women’s experiences through two themes: decision making and accessibility to safe abortion services. The article finds that a woman’s decision to abort is morally conflicted and largely dependent on her partner: in the case of single women, this turns on whether the partner is willing to marry the woman and assume paternity of the future child, while in the case of married women, this turns on the husband’s agreement with the wife’s decision. Women use social networks to gain access to information and to clandestine abortion services. Most of the physicians offering abortion services act as moral gatekeepers, often condemning the woman and preserving certain social norms rather than advocating for women’s bodily autonomy and free choice. This article argues that the right to safe abortion is a privilege rather than a right in the restrictive Lebanese context, since access to services hinges on a woman’s social capital, networks, and ability to negotiate with partners and physicians. Single women from a lower socioeconomic background stand out as the most vulnerable.
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spelling pubmed-69273632019-12-27 Moral Work and the Construction of Abortion Networks: Women’s Access to Safe Abortion in Lebanon Fathallah, Zeina Health Hum Rights Research-Article This study explores the intersectional effects of criminalization on women’s access to safe abortion in Lebanon. Building on 119 original interviews with women who have had an abortion and physicians who offer safe abortion services, the article analyzes women’s experiences through two themes: decision making and accessibility to safe abortion services. The article finds that a woman’s decision to abort is morally conflicted and largely dependent on her partner: in the case of single women, this turns on whether the partner is willing to marry the woman and assume paternity of the future child, while in the case of married women, this turns on the husband’s agreement with the wife’s decision. Women use social networks to gain access to information and to clandestine abortion services. Most of the physicians offering abortion services act as moral gatekeepers, often condemning the woman and preserving certain social norms rather than advocating for women’s bodily autonomy and free choice. This article argues that the right to safe abortion is a privilege rather than a right in the restrictive Lebanese context, since access to services hinges on a woman’s social capital, networks, and ability to negotiate with partners and physicians. Single women from a lower socioeconomic background stand out as the most vulnerable. Harvard University Press 2019-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6927363/ /pubmed/31885433 Text en Copyright © 2019 Fathallah. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research-Article
Fathallah, Zeina
Moral Work and the Construction of Abortion Networks: Women’s Access to Safe Abortion in Lebanon
title Moral Work and the Construction of Abortion Networks: Women’s Access to Safe Abortion in Lebanon
title_full Moral Work and the Construction of Abortion Networks: Women’s Access to Safe Abortion in Lebanon
title_fullStr Moral Work and the Construction of Abortion Networks: Women’s Access to Safe Abortion in Lebanon
title_full_unstemmed Moral Work and the Construction of Abortion Networks: Women’s Access to Safe Abortion in Lebanon
title_short Moral Work and the Construction of Abortion Networks: Women’s Access to Safe Abortion in Lebanon
title_sort moral work and the construction of abortion networks: women’s access to safe abortion in lebanon
topic Research-Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6927363/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31885433
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