COVID-19 has compromised and disrupted sexual and reproductive health (SRH) across multiple dimensions: individual-level access, health systems functioning, and at the policy and governance levels. Disruptions to supply chains, lockdown measures and travel restrictions, and overburdened health systems have particularly affected abortion access and service provision. The pandemic, rather than causing new issues, has heightened and exposed existing fractures and fissures within abortion access and provision. In this viewpoint, we draw on the concept of “structural violence” to make visible the contributing causes of these ruptures and their inequitable impact among different groups.
Focus on Abortion: Viewpoint
COVID-19 and Abortion: Making Structural Violence Visible
Authors
Rishita Nandagiri, London School of Economics and Political Science Ernestina Coast, London School of Economics and Political Science Joe Strong, London School of Economics and Political ScienceAuthor's Affiliations
Rishita Nandagiri is an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Methodology; Ernestina Coast is professor of health and international development, Department of International Development; and Joe Strong is a doctoral candidate, Department of Social Policy— all with the London School of Economics and Political Science, London.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Guttmacher Institute.
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