Reproductive justice? A critical examination of abortion law and practice in the UK and South Africa

Overview

This project aims to establish an international collaboration to facilitate comparative research concerning the striking contrast between the legislation and provision of abortion in the UK and South Africa (SA). In the long term, the collaborative project will use innovative empirical research to address key gaps in social science scholarship concerning abortion provision.

It asks: what are the implications of differing legislative, political, cultural, and health service practices for reproductive justice in relation to abortion? The success of the collaboration depends upon a preliminary period of knowledge exchange between the participating research teams in the UK and SA, who each bring unique methodological and/or substantive knowledge. We have been fortunate to obtain funding for this exchange from the British Academy’s International Partnership and Mobility Scheme. This will enable us to develop a major grant application to fund the comparative project and will build capacity in both institutions in terms of research expertise.

Research Starts: 3/3/14

Research Ends: 2/3/15

Grant Reference Number: PM130153

People

Key Researchers involved in the project:

Dr Merran Toerien (Sociology, University of York)

Dr Sian Beynon-Jones (Sociology, University of York)

Professor Catriona Macleod (Psychology, Rhodes University, South Africa)

Professor Louise Vincent (Political and International Studies, Rhodes University, South Africa)

Publication

Macleod, C.I., Beynon-Jones, S. and Toerien, M. (2017). Articulating reproductive justice through reparative justice: case studies of abortion in Great Britain and South Africa. Culture, health & sexuality, 19(5), pp.601-615.

Published Version: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310836668_Articulating_reproductive_justice_through_reparative_justice_case_studies_of_abortion_in_Great_Britain_and_South_Africa