Return to the topic you chose in week 3. Articulate a specific dilemma in a situation faced by a particular person based on that topic. The situation can be

1

Abortion

Ashley Castillo

Chamberlain University

Ethics

Professor Harris

10/05/2024

2

Abortion

Baker, M. R., Papp, L. J., Crawford, B. L., & McClelland, S. I. (2023). Abortion Stigma:

Imagined Consequences for People Seeking Abortion Care in the United States.

Psychology of Women Quarterly, 47(1), 35-50.

https://doi.org/10.1177/03616843221131544

In the article, Baker et al. (2023) discuss that the U.S. state laws had been endorsing

surveillance on individuals and also punishing providers who undertook the procedure before

and since the Dobbs decision in 2022. The authors indicate that there is an importance to

understanding the stigma that comes with abortion and the factors that influence it, like gender

roles, among others. According to Baker et al., “One in four women have an abortion in the

United States (U.S.) before the age of 45 years” (p. 35). I believe that considering this statistic, it

is important to understand abortion stigma, but it must be looked at from the viewpoint of people

who have stigmatizing beliefs. This way, t becomes easier to understand how the stigma can be

maneuvered. The negative beliefs that people have and the social systems that reinforce them can

be said to be more structural stigma because people believe that there should be a certain way of

doing things. When one falls short of that, one gets shunned by others, and this does not help in

any way when it comes to access to safe abortions in the country. Therefore, Baker et al. are

right because paying too much attention to stigmatizing others destroys our integrity as a

country.

Blackshaw, B., & Rodger, D. (2021). If fetuses are persons, abortion is a public health

crisis. Bioethics, 35(5), 465-472. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12874

Blackshaw & Rodger (2021) discuss the pro-life moral view and how decisions fueled by

pro-life affect the lives of the women involved. The abortion debate heightened when the

3

COVID-19 pandemic hit because many women were forced to be in spaces where they were at

higher risks of sexual violence because of lockdown measures. The authors use the violinist

analogy by Judith Jarvis Thomson, where the main argument is that “even if fetuses are persons,

abortion is nonetheless permissible in many instances. She also implies that women should not

be legally required to continue with pregnancy in these cases” (p. 465). Thus, the common

argument that the fetus has equal moral status, like that of adults and children, is ridiculous and

should not be used as a pro-life advocacy statement to make abortion immoral. I agree that

women should have the right to choose what happens to their bodies and this also includes

choosing not to be a life support machine for the fetus if she does not feel up to it. Therefore,

Blackshaw and Rodger have no right to decide what is morally permissible or not because they

view abortion as a public health crisis if Thomson’s stance is taken. The authors believe that in a

society where fetuses have lesser moral value, then abortion can be permissible.

Maddow-Zimet, I., Lindberg, L. D., & Castle, K. (2021). State-level variation in abortion

stigma and women and men’s abortion underreporting in the USA. Population

research and policy review, 40(6), 1149-1161. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-021-

09657-4

Maddow-Zimet, Lindberg, & Castle (2020) state that abortion in healthcare is one of the

areas that has high levels of stigma, and this is true in many other settings. Again, it is highly

underreported, and there are geographic variations depending on the state. Due to the stigma,

there are sensitive behaviors that are not reported in NSFG interviews because they would like to

give responses that are socially desirable. “With abortion, the sensitivity of the behavior is

assumed to reflect high levels of abortion stigma in most settings” (1150). The direct quote

indicates that respondents do not tell as it is, indicating high levels of trauma and the data quality

4

is therefore compromised. Structural stigma, for instance, is triggered by the policy environment,

and when there are restrictions for getting an abortion legally, the state and pro-life

individuals/organizations can traumatize and stigmatize those trying to get the procedure.

Furthermore, this affects minority groups, further creating disparities in care. The main thing

here is that even though there are demographic variations, underreporting is fairly common.

Underreporting was also found to be high in cases where the privacy of the interview

information was not strict. All in all, using men in abortion reports undermines how abortion

stigma is theoretically constructed because it is an ideal that is rooted in womanhood ideals.

Patev, A. J., & Hood, K. B. (2021). Towards a better understanding of abortion

misinformation in the USA: a review of the literature. Culture, Health &

Sexuality, 23(3), 285-300. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2019.1706001

Patev & Hood (2020) discuss the misinformation about abortion in the USA and better

understand it. Abortion touches on a woman’s health since it is a medical procedure. Thus,

having adequate and accurate information about it and other medical information is key to

understanding it on a deeper level. When there is inaccurate information about abortion, it can

significantly affect the decisions that a woman makes about her reproductive health.

Furthermore, it is well known that accurate and sufficient information assists one in informed

decision-making and in the medical setting, this is something that is preached. “Abortion

misinformation has received limited attention in psychological and health research” (p. 1). This

limited attention means that women do not have access to a lot of information, and this also

applies to lawmakers and other professionals in the medical field. There are messages that

abortion is dangerous in comparison to childbirth, which is inaccurate and affects women when

they have access to such misinformation and no accurate data that can help them make the best

5

choice possible. I believe that there should be more focus in this field because it would help

improve the general public health and economy since women who decide to be pro-choice are

able to be economically useful and not depend on the state for financial assistance. All in all,

being pro-choice requires one to have access to the right information, as misinformation can

mislead and bring undesirable socioeconomic and mental health outcomes for the child and

mother as well.

Wolfe, T., & van der Meulen Rodgers, Y. (2021). Abortion during the COVID-19

pandemic: racial disparities and barriers to care in the USA. Sexuality Research and

Social Policy, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-021-00569-8

Wolfe & van der Meulen Rodgers (2021) focus on how abortion access was affected in

the COVID-19 period. They pay attention to the racial disparities that exist in terms of

reproductive health and experiences. Abortion is medical care, and there were challenges during

the pandemic because pro-life protestors were having concerns about why abortion clinics stayed

open. Patients are often stigmatized when they try to seek abortions, especially because

protestors harass them, which gets worse if there are no escorts to protect them from getting

access to reproductive health services. “Access to abortion, a healthcare service already long

under siege from opponents, has become even more tenuous during a pandemic that has involved

widespread shutdowns” (p. 541). It means that during the pandemic period, accessing this crucial

healthcare service has become harder than it was before. There are inequalities in abortion access

as well by race, sexual identity, and ethnicity because of the systemic inequalities in health.

Unfortunately, the most affected people are marginalized populations, and the bias and racism in

the system mean that people who are already experiencing other intersecting oppressions are

even more vulnerable in this context. Also, the lack of inclusive sex education means that

6

marginalized communities might have a higher need for abortion services, but access is hard.

Thus, it is important to address the barriers to care because it would help influence better access

to abortion care.

7

References

Baker, M. R., Papp, L. J., Crawford, B. L., & McClelland, S. I. (2023). Abortion Stigma:

Imagined Consequences for People Seeking Abortion Care in the United States.

Psychology of Women Quarterly, 47(1), 35-50.

https://doi.org/10.1177/03616843221131544

Blackshaw, B., & Rodger, D. (2021). If fetuses are persons, abortion is a public health

crisis. Bioethics, 35(5), 465-472. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12874

Maddow-Zimet, I., Lindberg, L. D., & Castle, K. (2021). State-level variation in abortion stigma

and women and men’s abortion underreporting in the USA. Population research and

policy review, 40(6), 1149-1161. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-021-09657-4

Patev, A. J., & Hood, K. B. (2021). Towards a better understanding of abortion misinformation

in the USA: a review of the literature. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 23(3), 285-300.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2019.1706001

Wolfe, T., & van der Meulen Rodgers, Y. (2021). Abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic:

racial disparities and barriers to care in the USA. Sexuality Research and Social Policy,

1-8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-021-00569-8