Attitudes and experiences of women on abortion (results from the qualitative research from the territory of Belgrade)

This paper presents different views and experiences of women on abortion and contraception, on the basis of data obtained through in-depth interviews, within the project 'Policies of parenting'. The aim of the analysis is to obtain a deeper insight into the meaning that respondents have on abortion and discourse used when talking about this topic. The methodology is qualitative and includes an analysis of in-depth interviews with a sample of 30 respondents from the territory of Belgrade. The results show that respondents generally have, at least nominally, a positive attitude toward abortion and usually argue their positions through the discourse of 'individual decisions', but also 'feminist' discourse and 'anti-nationalist' discourse. Negative views are in the minority and the one that is the most prevalent are religious and discourse of 'naturalization' which includes the belief that motherhood, birth and practices associated with parenting are natural women functions and natural role of women in society. However, the deeper meaning behind the persons' declarative statement is often a mixing of positive and negative discourses, which indicates that respondents have not quite clear and precise views. This, however, should not be surprising, because in addition to the dominant public discourses on abortion which generally are not positive and still pronounced conservatism towards women's sexuality in our society (and the silence on this subject) it is logical that such contextual factors refract on a personal level respondents. In addition to these, the paper discusses the nationalist and anti-nationalist discourses and 'denaturalization'