2024, Number 4
Female companions of self-managed abortions at home: experiences of entry and permanence in practice
Full text
Language: Spanish
References: 22
Page: 1378-1406
PDF size: 463.99 Kb.
ABSTRACT
Among different types of abortion, induced abortion is of interest for the present study, particularly abortion performed voluntarily at home with the assistance of self-proclaimed female companions. Greater emphasis is placed on the experiences and events that were crucial for them, in a significant period of their life path, regarding their training as female companions. The objective was to analyze, from sociocultural psychology, a gender perspective and a qualitative approach, their experiences and forms of social participation, which were important in their educational process. To this end, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with three abortion female companions, who are feminist activists. The content of their speeches was coded and analyzed. It was found that some experiences and events were significant, consecutively, in their formative process: warmth and feelings of connection, habitual early, of the participants with the mother and other women; personal involvement regarding events of unplanned or unwanted pregnancy and subsequent abortion; establishment of political alliances with women who have spoken out and mobilized in favor of respect for sexual rights in different spheres; protagonism in the reconceptualization and deconstruction of traditional roles and attitudes within the family itself; actions for reasons of sorority in difficult times; incorporation into feminist social support networks; continued participation under the guidance and encouragement of expert female companions; perceptions of their expertise and exemplarity; and the peculiarity of their experiences, meanings, projections and results in their first and subsequent exposure to cases of pregnancy and abortion, of emotional moral charge. It was concluded that: the participants appropriated the practice of accompaniment, in its social context, through their guided action, increasingly less directed, more autonomous; the support was apparently valuable for women involved in an abortion after an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy, living in conditions of social and gender inequality; and the eventual achievement of greater social and gender equity could make it less necessary for social agents, such as female companions, to fill gaps in the establishment and exercise of women's sexual and reproductive rights.REFERENCES
Comité de Planeación (2022). Explorando el activismo vinculado al aborto seguroa través de las experiencias e historias de feministas que integran Redesde Acompañamiento en América Latina (2020-2021). Primer informe deresultados - Mayo del 2022. Ibis Reproductive Health (Estados Unidos),Colectiva Feminista La Revuelta de Socorristas en Red (Argentina), Con lasAmigas y en la Casa (Chile), Fondo de Aborto para la Justicia SocialMARIA (México), Las Libres (México) y una Colectiva anónima, 50 páginas.https://www.ibisreproductivehealth.org/sites/default/files/files/publications/Informe%20Activismo%20MAYO%202022.pdf
Medina, A. (2018). Hilando experiencias de aborto voluntario sororidad ycriminalización de mujeres en Baja California. Una investigación feminista.[Tesis de Maestría en estudios socioculturales, Universidad Autónoma deBaja California].https://repositorioinstitucional.uabc.mx/bitstream/20.500.12930/2243/1/IIC007976.pdf