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Short abstract:

This contribution will focus on the matter of doing differences between (non-)reproductive practices in the context of the negotiation of non-reproduction and the underlying structures of social power and inequalities by looking at abortion experiences in Germany from an STS-perspective.

Long abstract:

While abortion in Germany still is illegal (but tolerated), social categories like age, health or class influence the societal expectations of who should continue an unintended pregnancy and who should in fact not (Auerbach). Simultaneously, the issue of abortion is shaped by the persistent struggle for abortion rights, thus for a right not to procreate (Obinger-Gindulis). Therefore, abortion represents a phenomenon of non-reproduction, where struggles of power and control are constantly contested. The fight over medical technologies in this context shape these controversies worldwide (Clarke/Montini).

In my research, I have conducted 13 narrative interviews to investigate how individuals integrate the experience of an abortion into their biographies. Drawing on my empirical work, I will show how the interviewees – within the German discourse – (de)construct differences between abortion and other (non-)reproductive practices, focusing on the role of materialities in this negotiation. It is especially interesting to see how practices of grief, family-making or self-empowerment are created and adapted to compensate for “the lack of a coherent set of cultural resources to guide the experience” (Sawicka). Moreover, the interviews show a variety of normatively loaded usages of medical technologies surrounding abortion. Especially, the decision for a surgical or a medicinal procedure is a focal point for the observation of materialities, affects and power structures underlying non-reproductive matters in Germany.

So, by looking through the lens of abortion from an STS-perspective, this contribution will focus on differentiation practices in the context of non-reproduction and the inherent structures of social power and inequalities.