The hidden legality: perceptions of stigma in the tours of women who discovered and accessed the legal termination of pregnancy for health reasons

Abstract

For nearly a century Argentina’s penal code has included two exceptions in which abortion is permitted: health risk and rape. However, the implementation of legal abortion has been nearly nonexistent until recently. This qualitative study explored the experiences of women who accessed legal abortions in Argentina. It sought to analyze the paths they must walk through and to identify the ways in which stigma is perceived, manifested and processed. All women interviewed started searching for clandestine solutions to their unwanted pregnancy assuming abortion was always illegal. They “discovered” legality after walking through a path marked by stigma, risk, frustration and despair. Distress is not linked to the decision to end the pregnancy but is rather a result of the path they wander through. The “hidden legality” is a cause and consequence of abortion stigma.