@article{TEXTUAL,
      recid = {13552},
      author = {Garnsey, Al and Liddell, Jessica L. and Glover, Annie and  Doria, Celina M. and Buscaglia, Alex and Buxbaum, Lauren},
      title = {“I am empowered by this opportunity”: The role of abortion  funds as an antidote to abortion stigma},
      journal = {SSM - Qualitative Research in Health},
      address = {2024-09-06},
      number = {TEXTUAL},
      abstract = {Beyond the many structural obstacles to obtaining abortion  care in the United States, abortion stigma is a forceful  impediment to accessing timely services and an injurious  feature of the experience for some people who have  abortions (Sorhaindo & Lavelanet, 2022). This study  utilized a qualitative methodology to explore the  experiences of 830 abortion fund applicants in the Rocky  Mountain Region to better understand the unique barriers  they face in accessing care, the role that stigma plays in  influencing applications for abortion fund support, and  inform strategies to expand support infrastructure for  those facing isolation and hostility in their pursuit of  care. For the applicants in this study, stigma was  frequently cited as an impetus for seeking abortion fund  support and a burdensome aspect of the experience itself.  Stigma—whether internalized, perceived, enacted, or  structural—prevented many applicants from seeking material  or emotional support from their social networks and spurred  the dissolution of interpersonal relationships—with  far-reaching emotional and material consequences. The  results suggest that abortion funds go far beyond merely  providing material support, also acting as an antidote to  the harms associated with abortion stigma by promoting  feelings of interconnectedness and mutuality among  applicants. While accounts of stigma were pervasive in the  applications, so, too, were the myriad strategies of  resistance that applicants called upon to challenge  stigmatizing narratives and position their choice to have  an abortion as both moral and necessary.},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/13552},
}