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Abortion: An Open Secret? Abortion and Social Network Involvement in Burkina Faso
Abstract
Abortion in Burkina Faso is a subject that neither abortion providers nor women want to talk about. Abortion providers fear criminal prosecution; women's silence is dictated more by the wish to avoid the stigma of a "shameful" pregnancy. Qualitative investigations in Burkina Faso among 13 key informants in a rural village in 2000 and 30 women and men aware of experience of abortion in the capital Ouagadougou in 2001, explored two paradoxes: what prompts women and providers to reveal something they want to be kept totally secret, and how do women keep their abortion secret while nevertheless talking to others about it? The study found that young women in Burkina Faso are impelled to talk to their boyfriends, friends and in fewer cases women relatives about their unplanned pregnancy, first to decide to have an abortion and then to get help in finding a clandestine provider. Abortion is also kept secret because it is a subject on which there is no social consensus, alongside extra-marital sexual activity, contraceptive use by young people and out-of-wedlock pregnancies. The key to keeping a secret lies in the choice of those with whom to share it; good confidants are those who are bound by secrecy through the bonds of intimacy or shared transgression.
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Owing to stigma, women keep their pregnancy to themselves and only confide in close relatives and friends who may help by guiding them to obtain a clandestine abortion.
“Owing to stigma associated with an unsafe abortion, women keep their pregnancy to themselves and only confide in close relatives and friends who may help by guiding them as to where to obtain a clandestine abortion (19,22,23).”
From Unsafe abortion and postabortion care - an overview (2011) · cites this paper as [23]
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Unsafe abortion and postabortion care - an overview
RASCH, V. (2011) · Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0412.2011.01165.x · Cited by 94
Metadata
- Authors
- Rossier, C.
- Affiliations
- Institut national d'études démographiques (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Rossier, Clémentine
- ORCID
- Rossier, Clémentine
- Venue
- Reproductive Health Matters
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2007-01
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 30
- Pages
- 230-238
- ISSN
- 0968-8080 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-9576
- OpenAlex
- W2018747179
- Cited by
- 62
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 1.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Reproductive Health Matters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Reproductive Health and Contraception
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Global Maternal and Child Health
- Keywords
- abortion, secrecy, social networks, unintended pregnancy, young women, confidants, intimacy, stigma, contraceptive use, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, rural villages, social consensus
- MeSH terms
- Abortion, Illegal, Burkina Faso, Female, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Pregnancy, Social Support, Privacy
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