Stigma Of Abortion Essay

According to sociologist Erving Goffman “stigma [is] as an attribute that is deeply discrediting, that reduces the bearer from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one” (Abrams P, 2015). Stigma is an extremely useful tactic for societal regulation of sexual conduct, as it is essentially the of policing of an individual by other citizens in a society, and is generally associated with an individual diverging away from the group identity. Society’s overall negative framing of abortion is reflective of a deep morally rooted disapproval, which may result in the stigmatization and marginalization of a woman who has terminated, or intends to terminate her pregnancy. Furthermore, the stigmatization of a woman who has had an abortion has deeper, gender stereotyping undertones, stigmatizing a woman because she is refusing to conform to the …show more content…
This creates an ‘acceptable abortion, unacceptable abortion’ dichotomy, which reflects when, and under what conditions, may a woman be ‘pardoned’ from fulfilling her the expected role as a mother, which she is meant to ‘naturally gravitate to’. This dichotomy tells society under which circumstances to judge the woman for her choices, and which situations are to be met with sympathy. Stigma surrounding abortion, and the ‘types of women’ who terminate their pregnancies, has historical connotation; as historically, abortion was commonly associated with promiscuity, pre-marital sex and prostitution. Despite the fact that today, women seek out abortions for various, differing reasons, this historically based stigma about ‘the kind of woman’ would receive an abortion still penetrates common thinking. Although stigma on it’s own is an extremely effective form of ‘internal policing’, the laws that govern abortion often also reinforce, and increase, these stigmatizing, stereotypical