Profesionales de la salud y el estigma del aborto en Argentina. El caso de la “Red de profesionales de la salud por el derecho a decidir”

Health professionals and the stigma of abortion in Argentina. The case of the "Network of health professionals for the right to decide"

Abstract

This paper describes the impact that belonging to the "Network of health professionals for the right to decide" has had on a group of public health workers in Argentina who accompany women in situations of abortion and ensure the Legal Interruption of Pregnancy (ILE). This is a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive study, which focuses on professionals from the Network, who reside in the provinces of Córdoba and Buenos Aires. Interviews with such professionals were conducted between 2014 and 2016. For the analysis, the theoretical contributions of the studies on “stigma” (Goffman) and "dirty work" (Hughes) are mainly used to analyze the characteristics of a stigmatized task. The main results indicate that health providers have modified their perception of the stigma of abortion, due to sharing space with peers, among whom a certain homogeneity prevails regarding goals, ideas, and objectives in their profession. In addition, these professionals presume having gained security to counteract indicators of stigma, such as negative self-perception of the task performed, fear of disclosure and knowledge of the existence of overt social disapproval of their work