After After Tiller: The Stickiness of Social Myths around Third-Trimester Abortion

• In Event: 527 - Regular Session. Sociology of Sexuality: Producing, Policing, and Contesting Sexual Normativity

Abstract

Public support for third-trimester abortion is limited and public knowledge is characterized by inaccurate social myths. The documentary film After Tiller attempts to correct some of these myths by showcasing stories of later abortion, providers, and patients. Qualitative research can provide insight into what social myths are shared about later abortion and how they might change with improved information. Fifty filmgoers who had viewed After Tiller participated in in-depth telephone interviews discussing the movie and third-trimester abortion generally. Transcripts were analyzed in Atlas.ti 6 using grounded theory to find emergent themes. After viewing the film, participants said that they felt much more knowledgeable about later abortion patients and providers than before, and expressed increased support for legal third-trimester abortion access. They nonetheless also expressed an interest in later abortion patients demonstrating “good” reasons (e.g. fetal anomaly) for care and were supportive of physicians refusing care to some patients. These sentiments were framed as responses to broader cultural ideas about later abortion, not the film. Participants did not draw distinctions between their opinions on earlier and later abortions. Accurate portrayals of third-trimester abortion can counter some social myths but does not erase all preexisting assumptions about patients, in particular. Contrary to political prescriptions suggesting the abortion access movement should cede the issue of later abortion, these results show how improved knowledge of third-trimester abortion not only increases support for later procedures, but for all abortion access.

Authors

• Gretchen Sisson, University of California-San Francisco

• Katrina E. Kimport, University of California-San Francisco