Metrics of Survival: Post-Abortion Care and Reproductive Rights in Senegal

Siri Suh

doi:10.1080/01459740.2018.1496333

Metrics of Survival: Post-Abortion Care and Reproductive Rights in Senegal

Siri Suh

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Senegal between 2010 and 2011, I demonstrate how health professionals have deployed indicators such as number of women and abortion type treated in government hospitals to demonstrate commitment to global mandates on reproductive rights. These indicators obscure discrimination against women suspected of illegal abortion as health workers negotiate obstetric treatment with the abortion law. By measuring hospitals’ capacity to keep women with abortion complications alive, post-abortion care (PAC) indicators have normalized survival as a state of reproductive well-being.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	152-166
Number of pages	15
Journal	Medical Anthropology: Cross Cultural Studies in Health and Illness
Volume	38
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2018.1496333
State	Published - Aug 14 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [F31HD059387], the Social Science Research Council, and the American Council of Learned Societies. I am very grateful to Mounia El Kotni and Elyse Singer and to three anonymous reviewers for their generous feedback on this article. Research ethics approval for this project was provided by Columbia University?s Institutional Review Board and the Comit? National d?Ethique pour la Recherche en Sant? of the Senegalese Ministry of Health.

Funding Information:
This research was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [F31HD059387], the Social Science Research Council, and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
SDG 5 Gender Equality
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Keywords

abortion
ethnography
hospital metrics
reproductive governance
reproductive rights
Senegal

PubMed: MeSH publication types

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Publisher link

10.1080/01459740.2018.1496333

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6374216

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abstract = "Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Senegal between 2010 and 2011, I demonstrate how health professionals have deployed indicators such as number of women and abortion type treated in government hospitals to demonstrate commitment to global mandates on reproductive rights. These indicators obscure discrimination against women suspected of illegal abortion as health workers negotiate obstetric treatment with the abortion law. By measuring hospitals{\textquoteright} capacity to keep women with abortion complications alive, post-abortion care (PAC) indicators have normalized survival as a state of reproductive well-being.",

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note = "Funding Information: This research was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [F31HD059387], the Social Science Research Council, and the American Council of Learned Societies. I am very grateful to Mounia El Kotni and Elyse Singer and to three anonymous reviewers for their generous feedback on this article. Research ethics approval for this project was provided by Columbia University?s Institutional Review Board and the Comit? National d?Ethique pour la Recherche en Sant? of the Senegalese Ministry of Health. Funding Information: This research was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [F31HD059387], the Social Science Research Council, and the American Council of Learned Societies. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018, {\textcopyright} 2018 Taylor \& Francis Group, LLC.",

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Metrics of Survival: Post-Abortion Care and Reproductive Rights in Senegal

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

PubMed: MeSH publication types

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