Reconfiguring Abortion Infrastructures: An STS Analysis of Trends in Medical and Surgical Abortion in Post‐Legalisation Contexts
- 1School of Law, Politics, & Society University of Lincoln Lincoln UK
Abstract
The growing dominance of medical abortion in liberal and post‐legalisation contexts raises important questions about patient choice, reproductive autonomy and the organisation of abortion care. Whilst existing scholarship has examined the sociotechnical implications of medical abortion, contemporary shifts in relation to surgical abortion remain comparatively understudied. This research note proposes the notion of ‘abortion infrastructures’ as a sensitising concept for examining how abortion technologies are embedded in, and recursively reconfigure, broader sociotechnical systems of care. Drawing on feminist science and technology studies (STS), it develops four interconnected analytical dimensions: the relational embeddedness of abortion methods within medico‐legal systems; the emergence of new spatial, temporal and institutional norms of provision; the relational differentiation of medical and surgical abortion; and the classificatory work through which these methods acquire distinct meanings and institutional positions. This framework directs attention to how resource constraints, clinical protocols, professional practices and moral assumptions may privilege medical abortion whilst rendering surgical abortion increasingly inaccessible. It also problematises understandings of method ‘choice’ which overlook the infrastructural conditions shaping available options. By foregrounding the normative and relational dimensions of abortion provision, this note advances a feminist infrastructural approach to trends in abortion methods and identifies directions for future empirical research.
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BibTeX
@article{oshaughnessy2026reconfiguring,
title = {{Reconfiguring Abortion Infrastructures: An STS Analysis of Trends in Medical and Surgical Abortion in Post‐Legalisation Contexts}},
author = {Aideen O'Shaughnessy},
journal = {Sociology of Health \& Illness},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1111/1467-9566.70288},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.70288},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Reconfiguring Abortion Infrastructures: An STS Analysis of Trends in Medical and Surgical Abortion in Post‐Legalisation Contexts
AU - Aideen O'Shaughnessy
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
JO - Sociology of Health & Illness
DO - 10.1111/1467-9566.70288
UR - https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.70288
AB - The growing dominance of medical abortion in liberal and post‐legalisation contexts raises important questions about patient choice, reproductive autonomy and the organisation of abortion care. Whilst existing scholarship has examined the sociotechnical implications of medical abortion, contemporary shifts in relation to surgical abortion remain comparatively understudied. This research note proposes the notion of ‘abortion infrastructures’ as a sensitising concept for examining how abortion technologies are embedded in, and recursively reconfigure, broader sociotechnical systems of care. Drawing on feminist science and technology studies (STS), it develops four interconnected analytical dimensions: the relational embeddedness of abortion methods within medico‐legal systems; the emergence of new spatial, temporal and institutional norms of provision; the relational differentiation of medical and surgical abortion; and the classificatory work through which these methods acquire distinct meanings and institutional positions. This framework directs attention to how resource constraints, clinical protocols, professional practices and moral assumptions may privilege medical abortion whilst rendering surgical abortion increasingly inaccessible. It also problematises understandings of method ‘choice’ which overlook the infrastructural conditions shaping available options. By foregrounding the normative and relational dimensions of abortion provision, this note advances a feminist infrastructural approach to trends in abortion methods and identifies directions for future empirical research.
SN - 0141-9889
SN - 1467-9566
ER -