Abstract
This article takes the public reaction to the discovery of an aborted foetus in a rural Zambian community as the empirical starting point for exploring the everyday politics of reproduction. It builds on eleven months of ethnographic fieldwork on abortion and abortion policy in Zambia in 2017 and 2018, including participant observation in the community where the episode took place and interviews with clinic staff and neighbours. The article explores local dynamics of abortion opposition in a country where abortion is legally permitted on broad grounds. By analysing this case as an anthropological event, it discusses how opposition to abortion is dynamic and changes depending on the situation at hand. While abortions that avoid public attention may be silently tolerated, abortions that become openly known are harshly condemned. Through scrutiny of a specific case of collective moral judgement of abortion, the article examines how values like responsible motherhood, sexual virtue and protection of life emerge and are shared, allowing participants to protect and accumulate their own integrity in a moral economy that forges stronger social ties within the community. The article argues that even the harshest expressions of opposition to abortion may not be as categorical as they first appear. It calls for increased attention to dynamics of moral and political opposition to abortion to understand what is socially at stake for those who engage in it.
Highlights
Rapp (2001) has noted that “when reproduction becomes problematic it provides a lens through which cultural norms, struggles, and transformation can be viewed”
It is well documented that both women who go through abortions as well as abortion providers may suffer considerable stigma (Coast et al, 2018; Kumar et al, 2009; Norris et al, 2011)
With few exceptions (Schuster, 2005), little attention has been paid to the moral reasoning and choices of those involved in inflicting moral judgements on others, or how abortion is situationally understood and responded to at community level
Summary
Rapp (2001) has noted that “when reproduction becomes problematic it provides a lens through which cultural norms, struggles, and transformation can be viewed”. Abortion remains one of the most problem atic and contentious reproductive issues (Kumar et al, 2009). Girls and women contemplating abortions are faced with a series of critical choices (Gammeltoft, 2002; Hoggart, 2019; Kebede et al, 2014; Schuster, 2005). Do they have to make tough decisions about their own lives and bodies, they have to consider how their choices may be judged by others. With few exceptions (Schuster, 2005), little attention has been paid to the moral reasoning and choices of those involved in inflicting moral judgements on others, or how abortion is situationally understood and responded to at community level
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