Break it Down: Stigmatization

Break It Down: Stig-ma-ti-za-tion

People often talk about abortion stigma like the two words go together. Where there is one, the other must naturally follow. Right?

Wrong. Shame and secrecy, and the stigma that creates them, are not the natural product of any decision to terminate a pregnancy. They are not unavoidable, and they are often in contradiction with the other emotions a woman is feeling: relief, hope, empowerment, perhaps even some pride. 

Nearly 50 million women have had legal abortions in the 36 years since Roe v. Wade. Nearly 50 million women with lives, families, jobs, friends, hopes, dreams, and reasons for ending a pregnancy. One in three American women will have an abortion in her lifetime. Abortion is a normal and necessary part of their reproductive lives. Why should there be stigma associated with such a common experience?

Abortion stigma is the product of deliberate effort, a process of stigmatization. It’s big word, a bit unwieldy, but important to understand.

stigma n.; plural stig·mas, stig·ma´ta
1. archaic : a scar left by a hot iron; a brand. 2. A mark of infamy or disgrace; sign of moral blemish; stain or reproach caused by dishonorable conduct; reproachful characterization. 3. an identifying mark or characteristic; a specific diagnostic sign of a disease

stigmatization n.
1. the developing of or being identified as possessing stigma or stigmata. 2. the act or process of negatively labeling or characterizing another as disgraceful or ignominious.

Stigmatization is practiced visibly by protestors holding signs and shouting at women on their way into clinics, but it is carried out more insidiously through the kind of rhetoric that co-opts the word “life” or claims women who have abortions are selfish or unnatural. Once entrenched, stigmatization is fueled by secrecy and perpetuated by doctors and hospitals that don’t offer information about women’s options, by misinformative sex ed programs, even by well-meaning supporters who call abortion a “necessary evil.”

Stigmatization has an impact – on women making real life decisions, on medical providers who shy away from providing abortion, and on laws restricting access to care.
Stigmatization is fed by stereotypes and mistruths. At Preterm we know from daily experience the truth of women’s complex lives and thoughtful decisions.
Stigmatization can be halted. The poet Muriel Rukeyser wrote, “If one woman told the truth about her life, the world would split open.” She may have been overly optimistic about the power of one voice. But how about 50 million?

from the Preterm newsletter, Summer 2010