ReviewInternational journal for equity in health2019
Health, life and rights: a discourse analysis of a hybrid abortion regime in Tanzania.
Review in International journal for equity in health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Responding to Moral Challenges in Clinical Practice: A Qualitative Assessment of Clinical Ethics Support Needs at Three Tanzanian Hospitals.HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues · 2026Article
- Navigating an ambiguous abortion terrain in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: autonomy and relational dynamics in pregnancy termination.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Andrea Prudente case: a case study on social mobilisation, reproductive governance, and the politics of abortion reform in Malta.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2025Article
- Knowledge level and constructs of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to the practice of unsafe abortion among postnatal mothers attending Mkonze health center, Dodoma Region, Tanzania.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Tanzanian adolescents' attitudes toward abortion: innovating video vignettes in survey research on health topics.Reproductive health · 2024Article
- Beyond political will: unpacking the drivers of (non) health reforms in sub-Saharan Africa.BMJ global health · 2022Review
- Article
- Necessary but not sufficient: a scoping review of legal accountability for sexual and reproductive health in low-income and middle-income countries.BMJ global health · 2021Article
- A critical discourse analysis of adolescent fertility in Zambia: a postcolonial perspective.Reproductive health · 2021Article
- Disparities in Accessing Sexual and Reproductive Health Services at the Intersection of Disability and Female Adolescence in Tanzania.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Reproductive health and the politics of abortion.International journal for equity in health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUnsafe abortion continues to be a major hazard for maternal health in Sub-Saharan Africa, where abortion remains highly controversial and access to safe abortion services is unequally distributed. Although national abortion laws are central in indicating women's potential for accessing safe abortion services, the character of an abortion law may alone say little about national discursive abortion landscapes and access scenarios. The article calls for the study and problematization of the relationship between legal abortion frameworks on the one hand, and discourses surrounding abortion on the other, in an attempt to move closer to an understanding of the complexity of factors that influence knowledge about and access to safer abortion services. With the restrictive abortion law in Tanzania as a starting point, the paper explores the ways in which the major global abortion discourses manifest themselves in the country and indicate potential implications of a hybrid abortion regime.
methodsThe study combined a review of major legal and policy documents on abortion, a review of publications on abortion in Tanzanian newspapers between 2000 and 2015 (300 articles), and 23 semi-structured qualitative interviews with representatives from central institutions and organizations engaged in policy- or practical work related to reproductive health.
resultsTanzania's abortion law is highly restrictive, but the discursive abortion landscape is diverse and is made manifest through legal- and policy documents and legal- and policy related disputes. The discourses were characterized by diverse frames of reference based in religion, public health and in human rights-based values, and as such reflect the major global discourses. Fairclough's concepts interdiscursivity and recontextualization were drawn upon to develop an understanding of how the concepts health, rights and life emerge across the discourses, but are employed in contrasting lines of argumentation in struggles for hegemony and legitimacy. DISCUSSION AND
conclusionsThe paper demonstrates that a hybrid discursive regime relating to abortion characterizes the legally restrictive abortion context of Tanzania. We argue that such a complex discursive landscape, which cuts across the restrictive - liberal divide, generates an environment that seems to open avenues for enhanced access to abortion related knowledge and services.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.