Making sense of the ethics of gestational time in the abortion clinic: A comparative analysis of clinical and lay understandings. (360G-Wellcome-095720_Z_11_Z)

Drawing on insights generated by the recent turn towards the sociological analysis of ethics in practice (e.g. Haimes, 2002; Hedgecoe, 2004; Wainwright et al., 2006; Williams, 2006; Ehrich et al., 2007; Cribb et al., 2008), the proposed research addresses a novel set of questions about the ethics of abortion. Empirically, the research will explore the ways in which patients and health professionals understand the ethical significance of gestational time in abortion decision-making, the ethical dilemmas that they face concerning temporality, and the implications of the ways in which its meaning is negotiated by both participants in the health professional-patient relationship. Conceptually, it will compare conventional clinical framings of personhood and temporality in the context of abortion with the alternative theorisations of this issue which are offered by feminist bioethics/philosophical work. Normatively, it will use insights from the conceptual and empirical analyses to explor e routes towards the improvement of patients and health professionals experiences.