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Abstract

Since 1978, women have been granted legal rights to self-determined abortion, from which the idea of women’s right to choose achieves its victory in the current Norwegian abortion law. Behind this notion of choice lies an assumption that perceives women as subjects of choice who should personally decide whether or not having an abortion would be the proper way to overcome difficult decisions on their pregnancies. Women’s right to choose is celebrated as an ideal concept in consultation services for women who face difficult decisions on whether or not to have an abortion. Counselors and health workers I interviewed used the notion of women’s right to choose to describe the professionalism of their work; that is, to create distance from a woman’s decision-making process. By employing engaged listening to collect ethnographic data, this study explores limitations encountered with the idea of women’s right to choose as applied to care practices for women who are uncertain about their pregnancies. This inquiry examines care relations formed under conditions where the notion of individual choice is not ideal in practice. This study shows how individual choices are socially bound. Women’s status as subject of choice is not predetermined but enacted through emotional labor performed by healthcare professionals, which could affect clients’ openness and self-efficacy to enact a choice. Emotional labor challenges the claim of neutrality which was described as being emotionally detached from clients, as emotion itself is often deemed insignificant for making rational decisions.

Bahasa Abstract

Sejak 1978, undang-undang aborsi di Norwegia melegalkan aborsi berdasarkan permintaan maksimal dalam dua minggu pertama kehamilan. Legalitas ini menandai kemenangan atas gagasan “hak perempuan untuk memilih” (women’s right to choose). Hak perempuan untuk memilih dalam konteks aborsi dianggap ideal dalam layanan konsultasi untuk perempuan yang mengalami kesulitan memilih antara melanjutkan kehamilan atau aborsi. Perempuan dianggap sebagai subjek pilihan yang selayaknya memutuskan sendiri apakah aborsi merupakan cara yang tepat untuk mengatasi kesulitan kehamilan yang tidak diinginkan. Wacana “hak perempuan untuk memilih” secara umum diterima oleh tenaga kesehatan profesional yang saya jumpai. Wacana itu digunakan untuk mendeskripsikan kerja profesional mereka, yakni dengan menciptakan jarak dari proses pengambilan keputusan klien yang mereka tangani. Dengan menerapkan engaged listening dalam proses pengumpulan data etnografis, penelitian ini mengeksplorasi keterbatasan “hak perempuan untuk memilih” yang diterapkan pada praktik pelayanan konsultasi untuk perempuan yang mengalami kesulitan memilih antara melanjutkan kehamilan atau aborsi. Dengan mengeksplorasi kondisi “hak perempuan untuk memilih” yang tidak ideal dalam praktiknya, penelitian ini berupaya menunjukkan relasi yang terbentuk antara klien dan tenaga kesehatan profesional yang membantu klien membuat pilihan. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bagaimana pilihan individu terikat secara sosial dan perempuan sebagai subjek pilihan dibentuk melalui praktik relasional yang melibatkan emotional labor yang dilakukan tenaga kesehatan profesional. Emotional labor memengaruhi keterbukaan klien dan kemampuan membuat keputusan sendiri. Emotional labor kontradiktif dengan klaim terhadap netralitas yang diterjemahkan sebagai tidak terlibat secara emosional dengan klien, emosi cenderung dianggap sebagai elemen yang tidak bernilai untuk membuat keputusan rasional.

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