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The lesser shame: abortion among educated women in southern Cameroon

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  • Johnson-Hanks, Jennifer

Abstract

Educated women in southern Cameroon both condemn abortion and practice it with some regularity. This apparent paradox arises because educated Cameroonian women use abortion as one of a set of strategies to manage the timing and social context of entry into motherhood. This paper is based on a body of research which included a demographic life history survey (N=184), open-ended narrative interviews (N=37), and participant observation over 10 months. The survey data included 61 reported abortions, giving a lower-bound estimate of the crude abortion rate of 19 per thousand woman-years of life. In southern Cameroon, sexual activity is socially tolerated in a wide variety of non-marital relationships, while childbearing is not. Thus, most of my informants, including those who reported having aborted, say that abortion is shameful; however, they view its moral and social consequences as less grave than those of a severely mistimed entry into socially recognized motherhood. That is, abortion persists in southern Cameroon because it is the lesser shame.

Suggested Citation

  • Johnson-Hanks, Jennifer, 2002. "The lesser shame: abortion among educated women in southern Cameroon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(8), pages 1337-1349, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:55:y:2002:i:8:p:1337-1349
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Rossier, Clémentine & Guiella, George & Ouédraogo, Abdoulaye & Thiéba, Blandine, 2006. "Estimating clandestine abortion with the confidants method--results from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 254-266, January.
    2. Zamo-Akono, C. & Tsafack-Nanfosso, R., 2008. "Fécondité, Santé et Participation des femmes au Marché du Travail," MPRA Paper 10839, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Samuel H Nyarko & Lloyd Potter, 2021. "Levels and socioeconomic correlates of nonmarital fertility in Ghana," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(2), pages 1-13, February.
    4. Solheim, I.H. & Moland, K.M. & Kahabuka, C. & Pembe, A.B. & Blystad, A., 2020. "Beyond the law: Misoprostol and medical abortion in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    5. Seydou Drabo, 2020. "Beyond ‘Family Planning’—Local Realities on Contraception and Abortion in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-15, November.
    6. Izugbara, Chimaraoke O. & Egesa, Carolyne & Okelo, Rispah, 2015. "‘High profile health facilities can add to your trouble’: Women, stigma and un/safe abortion in Kenya," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 9-18.
    7. Leslie Root & Jennifer Johnson-Hanks†, 2016. "Gender, Honor, and Aggregate Fertility," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(4), pages 904-928, September.
    8. Sarah K. Cowan, 2013. "Cohort Abortion Measures for the United States," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 39(2), pages 289-307, June.
    9. Aniema Atorudibo, 2021. "Marriage Norms and Fertility Outcomes in Developing Countries," Studies in Economics 2101, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    10. Coast, Ernestina & Norris, Alison H. & Moore, Ann M. & Freeman, Emily, 2018. "Trajectories of women's abortion-related care: A conceptual framework," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 199-210.
    11. Clémentine Rossier, 2007. "Attitudes towards abortion and contraception in rural and urban Burkina Faso," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 17(2), pages 23-58.
    12. Suh, Siri, 2014. "Rewriting abortion: Deploying medical records in jurisdictional negotiation over a forbidden practice in Senegal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 20-33.
    13. Jaffré, Yannick & Suh, Siri, 2016. "Where the lay and the technical meet: Using an anthropology of interfaces to explain persistent reproductive health disparities in West Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 175-183.

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