IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/soasur/v27y2020i2p117-140.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Acts of Agency: Exploring a Feminist Approach to Abortion Research in Sri Lanka

Author

Listed:
  • Subha Wijesiriwardena
  • Kimaya de Silva
  • Cayathri Divakalala
  • Hasanah Cegu Issadeen

Abstract

In Sri Lanka, abortion continues to be a criminal offence under the Penal Code of 1883. Several attempts have been made to challenge the colonial-era law since the 1990s with no success thus far. This study documents and centres the knowledge of women and transpersons in accessing abortion and sexual health and reproductive health services in Sri Lanka in order to contribute to the conversation on abortion law reform as well as research and advocacy. Our data suggest that the existing legal reforms proposed to the abortion law would be unresponsive to the needs of women and transpersons in Sri Lanka, and that in additional to legal changes, we would need significant social and cultural changes. This study uses feminist research methodologies, building towards a feminist ethics in abortion research.

Suggested Citation

  • Subha Wijesiriwardena & Kimaya de Silva & Cayathri Divakalala & Hasanah Cegu Issadeen, 2020. "Acts of Agency: Exploring a Feminist Approach to Abortion Research in Sri Lanka," South Asian Survey, , vol. 27(2), pages 117-140, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soasur:v:27:y:2020:i:2:p:117-140
    DOI: 10.1177/0971523120947070
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0971523120947070
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0971523120947070?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kumar, R., 2013. "Abortion in Sri Lanka: The double standard," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(3), pages 400-404.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Swati Narayan, 2018. "Religion and Female–Male Ratios in India," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 12(3), pages 441-452, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:soasur:v:27:y:2020:i:2:p:117-140. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.