Background Despite being a common gynaecological procedure, abortion continues to be widely stigmatised. The research and medical communities are increasingly considering ways of reducing stigma, and health professionals have a role to play in normalising abortion as part of routine sexual and reproductive healthcare (SRH). We sought to investigate how health professionals may normalise abortion and challenge prevailing negative sociocultural narratives. Methods As part of the Sexuality and Abortion Stigma Study (SASS), qualitative secondary analysis was conducted on two datasets containing health professionals’ accounts of providing abortion in Scotland and England. A subsample of 20 interviews were subjected to in-depth, thematic analysis. Results Four key themes were identified in heath professionals’ accounts: (1) encountering resistance to abortion from others working in SRH; (2) contending with prevailing negative sociocultural narratives of abortion; (3) enacting overt positivity towards abortion provision; and (4) presenting abortion as part of normal, routine healthcare. Conclusions It is clear that negative attitudes toward abortion persist both inside and outside of healthcare systems, and need to be challenged in order to destigmatise those accessing and providing services. Health professionals can play a key role in normalising abortion, through the ways in which they frame their work and present abortion to women they treat, and others more widely. Our analysis suggests a key way to achieve this is by presenting abortion as part of normal, routine SRH, but that appropriate support and structural change are essential for normalisation to become embedded.

中文翻译：

---

堕胎正常化：卫生专业人员可以发挥什么作用？


背景 尽管堕胎是一种常见的妇科手术，但它仍然受到广泛的污名化。研究和医学界越来越多地考虑减少耻辱感的方法，而卫生专业人员可以在堕胎正常化方面发挥作用，作为常规性和生殖保健 (SRH) 的一部分。我们试图调查卫生专业人员如何使堕胎正常化并挑战普遍存在的负面社会文化叙事。方法 作为性与堕胎耻辱研究 (SASS) 的一部分，对包含卫生专业人员在苏格兰和英格兰提供堕胎的描述的两个数据集进行了定性二次分析。对 20 次访谈的子样本进行了深入的主题分析。结果 卫生专业人员的叙述中确定了四个关键主题：(1) 遭遇性健康与生殖健康部门其他工作人员对堕胎的抵制； (2) 应对普遍存在的关于堕胎的负面社会文化叙述； (3) 对堕胎规定表现出明显的积极态度； (4) 将堕胎作为正常、常规医疗保健的一部分。结论 显然，医疗保健系统内部和外部对堕胎的消极态度仍然存在，需要受到挑战，以消除那些获得和提供服务的人的污名。卫生专业人员可以通过他们制定工作并向他们治疗的妇女和其他更广泛的人介绍堕胎的方式，在堕胎正常化方面发挥关键作用。我们的分析表明，实现这一目标的关键方法是将堕胎作为正常、常规的性健康与生殖健康的一部分，但适当的支持和结构性变革对于实现正常化至关重要。