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‘The first difficulty is time’: The impact of gestational age limits on reproductive health and justice in the context of cross-border travel for abortion care in Europe

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Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data collected during a 5-year multi-disciplinary European research
project, in this article we show how restrictions on access to legal abortion, and particularly gestational age (GA)
limits at the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, negatively affect women and pregnant people living in
European countries where abortion is legal on request or on broad grounds. First, we examine why most European
legislations establish GA limits, and illustrate how abortion is framed in national laws and in the current
national and international legal and political debates on abortion rights. We then show, based on research data
we collected during our 5-year project and contextualized with existing data and statistics, how these restrictions
force thousands of people to travel across borders from European countries where abortion is legal, delaying
access to care, and increasing pregnant people’s health risks. Finally, we explore, from an anthropological
perspective, how pregnant people who travel across borders for abortion care conceptualize abortion access, and
the relationship between the right to abortion care and the GA restrictions that limit this right. Our study participants
criticize the time restrictions established by the laws in their countries of residence as failing to meet
pregnant people’s needs, highlight the crucial importance of easy, timely access to abortion care even beyond the
first trimester of pregnancy, and suggest a more relational approach to the right to access safe, legal abortion.
Abortion travel is also a matter of reproductive justice because access to care depends on specific resources
including finances, information, support, citizenship status, and social networks. Our work contributes to
scholarly and public debates about reproductive governance and justice, by shifting the locus of attention to GA
limits and its impact on women and pregnant people, particularly in geopolotical settings where abortion laws
are deemed liberal.

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Social Science & Medicine, 2023, vol. 321

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Articles publicats en revistes (Antropologia Social)

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‘The first difficulty is time’: The impact of gestational age limits on reproductive health and justice in the context of cross-border travel for abortion care in Europe