Date of Award

Spring 5-4-2022

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Kathryn A. Kozaitis

Second Advisor

Cassandra White

Third Advisor

Jennie Burnet

Abstract

Abortion access is constrained at various socio-cultural levels. While policy may be the most publicized level at which abortion access is determined, barriers to access are highly influenced by a variety of phenomena, including the cultural orientations of the clinic itself. In this thesis I examine the ways that the clinical context both enhances and constrains access to abortion. In this light, the abortion clinic is studied as a dynamic actor in an individual’s pursuit of abortion, and one whose structures, protocols, and cultural orientations are not taken for granted, but rather analyzed through the lens of a praxis-oriented, critical anthropology. Data collected by participant observation, informal and in-depth interviews, and surveys reveal the ways that community-level stigma of abortion along with the legacy of biomedicine manifest at the clinical level to both intensify and mitigate salient logistical, cognitive, and structural barriers to abortion.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/28914758

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