Gender biopolitics and obstacles to legal abortion care: Reproductive autonomy under debate

Abstract

This essay is the result of postdoctoral research in Psychology, carried out in the Postgraduate Program in Psychology at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), from April 2023 to May 2024. The aim was to conduct a critical analysis of sexual and reproductive rights, based on problematizations of women’s health policies and practices, specifically legal abortion. To this end, as a methodological approach, documentary research was used, based on the selection of two documents published by the multilateral organization United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and analysis of a booklet launched by the Curumim Group, a Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) that works to promote sexual and reproductive rights, especially for girls and women, to problematize the harmful effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to legal abortion services. The main difficulties encountered that hinder reproductive autonomy are: lack of care; lack of information and little visibility; deficiencies in the physical structure of hospitals; limit on gestational age; conscientious objection; moral and religious values and the professional’s distrust of the patient’s word; insufficient training, lack of awareness and training on abortion care.