Abortion

TY - ENCYC

T1 - Abortion

AU - Gammeltoft, Tine

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy and may be either spontaneous or induced. Throughout human history, induced abortion has been shrouded in controversy. The ethnographic record shows that, across societies, abortion has involved intense contestations over morally fraught issues such as the organization of human sexuality, the limits to human life, and women's rights to bodily self‐determination. Despite the pervasiveness of this procedure, induced abortion remains illegal and/or morally contentious in many societies and is therefore often performed in secrecy and silence. When illegality pushes abortion underground, the procedure is often done in ways that place pregnant women's health and lives in jeopardy.

AB - Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy and may be either spontaneous or induced. Throughout human history, induced abortion has been shrouded in controversy. The ethnographic record shows that, across societies, abortion has involved intense contestations over morally fraught issues such as the organization of human sexuality, the limits to human life, and women's rights to bodily self‐determination. Despite the pervasiveness of this procedure, induced abortion remains illegal and/or morally contentious in many societies and is therefore often performed in secrecy and silence. When illegality pushes abortion underground, the procedure is often done in ways that place pregnant women's health and lives in jeopardy.

U2 - 10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea1490

DO - 10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea1490

M3 - Encyclopedia chapter

BT - International Encyclopedia of Anthropology

A2 - Callan, Hillary

PB - Wiley-Blackwell

ER -