New book shows global movement for self-managed abortion
Sociologist Naomi Braine looks at how Latin America has fought against restrictive abortion laws
A leading sociology professor will release a book this month that details the global movement to create a community-based approach to abortion.
Abortion Beyond the Law: Building a Global Feminist Movement for Self-Managed Abortion will be released on Nov. 14. It’s already available on Amazon. Self-Managed Abortion is the term that Braine uses about the movement that deals with situations in which an abortion is entirely managed by the person having it.
Braine contrasted that with clinical abortions, where women have to go to doctors to get the care they need. That’s changed dramatically in the age of telehealth services and medication options.
“(Self-managed Abortion) basically says a doctor is not necessary for a safe abortion,” Braine said. “Period, full stop. And people have been self-managing abortions outside of the medical system for probably thousands of years.”
Braine also said that abortions outside the medical establishment had existed before Mifepristone and Misoprostol. She cited underground abortion services like the Jane Collective to support that contention.
“The real difference that the medication makes–and that's misoprostol alone or mifepristone and misoprostol together–is that it is possible for somebody to self-manage an abortion safely with minimal instructions and support,” Braine said. “And prior to medication, that was just not true.”
Braine thinks that the ability of women to manage their abortions at home with the two-pill regimen will de-medicalize reproductive care in a lot of ways. They could seek help from friends or feminist groups, which she writes about in her book.
Braine takes readers worldwide in the text to explore how the abortion debate has unfolded elsewhere. Her focus is on Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. She explained how antiabortion activists had taken their fight globally before.
“What has happened is over the years, the framework of using gender and sexuality as an opening point of entry into a larger right-wing and far-right politics has gone global,” Braine said. “It started in the United States.”
Unlike the antiabortion movement, which is top-down, the global movement for self-managed abortion is community-based. It responds to the local concerns and activities and what the leadership reacts to.
“People in the US really need to be willing to learn from the Global South,” Braine said. “There is a belief that the US will save the world. And a sense that we are ahead. That is just not true. Latin America is reversing decades of restrictive abortion laws.”