The Criminalization of Women for Abortion in Chile

220 Pages·2016·0.98 MB·English

by  Michele Eggers

University of Connecticut
OpenCommons@UConn
Doctoral Dissertations University of Connecticut Graduate School
5-4-2016
Embodying Inequality: The Criminalization of
Women for Abortion in Chile
Michele Eggers
[email protected]
Follow this and additional works at:https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations
Recommended Citation
Eggers, Michele, "Embodying Inequality: The Criminalization of Women for Abortion in Chile" (2016).Doctoral Dissertations. 1059.
https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/1059
Embodying Inequality: The Criminalization of Women for Abortion in Chile
Michele Eggers, Ph.D.
University of Connecticut, 2016
This research examines how women in Chile embody being criminalized for abortion in the
context of inequality. Using a critical phenomenological research design, an element of this
research focused on structural, cultural, and direct forms of violence against women. The study is
anchored in the narratives of poor, indigenous, and immigrant women who have a history of
terminating a pregnancy under illegal conditions. Participants revealed that the construction of
laws and policies regulate and control women’s reproductive lives and construct them as
criminals; that cultural systems of inequality legitimize and sustain harmful attitudes and
practices; and that structural and cultural violence manifest as concrete expressions of
discrimination and other forms of violence against women. The in-depth interviews with women
who have a history of terminating a pregnancy revealed how illegality is inscribed upon a
woman’s body and embodied reality, linking broader constructs of violence to lived experience.
Women’s narratives uncovered how their voice and experience with abortion are rendered
invisible within clandestine spaces of illegality and only made visible as a result of health or
legal consequences. Despite barriers negotiating and embodying inequality within a highly
criminalized environment women revealed resistance to dominant structures, laws, and cultural
discourse, illustrating individual and collective forms of agency. The role of social work is vital
on both policy and practice levels. This research calls on social workers to challenge a criminal
justice paradigm as a response to social issues; understand the conditions that affect women’s
reproductive health, such as poverty and discrimination; and work toward the implementation of
a social justice and human rights-based approach to reproductive health and wellbeing.
Embodying Inequality: The Criminalization of Women for Abortion in Chile

Michele Eggers

MSW, San Francisco State University, 2000
BA, Humboldt State University, 1992

A Dissertation
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
at the
University of Connecticut
2016
ii
Copyright by
Michele Eggers

2016
iii
Approval Page

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Embodying Inequality: The Criminalization of Women for Abortion in Chile

Presented by Michele Eggers, B.A., M.S.W.

Major Advisor
Kathryn R. Libal, Ph.D.

Associate Advisor
S. Megan Berthold, Ph.D.

Associate Advisor
Nancy A. Naples, Ph.D.

University of Connecticut
2016
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Acknowledgements
I dedicate this work to my maternal great grandmother, whose bodily existence is a map
to mine. Although her original identity was lost in life and in death, she is not forgotten; to my
mother, who in the short nine years of knowing her, managed to instill in me an understanding
of, and commitment to the struggle for equality and justice. I love and miss you and I am forever
grateful; and to my daughter, Melissa, may you always feel the strength of the women who came
before you.
I would like to thank and honor all of the women who shared their abortion and
reproductive health experiences with me. Without your openness to share memories of anger,
sadness, and fear and stories of strength and resistance we would be left without your wisdom to
guide us toward creating just reproductive health policies for women. Thank you to the amazing
people and communities that I visited and crossed paths with during my travels in Chile, for
sharing stories of torture and loss, the effects of racism, classism, and sexism in your lives, and
the related impacts of living in poverty and violence within your communities. I am inspired by
your courage, strength, activism, and organizing for justice in the face of state supported
violence and repression. I would also like to thank the many activists, organizers, feminists,
filmmakers, professionals, organizations, and academics that shared their work, activism,
perspective, research, and passion for social, economic, and political equality, justice, and human
rights. I am both inspired by and grateful for your commitment to women and social, economic,
and reproductive justice issues.
I gratefully acknowledge the support of Verónica Matus for your kind and insightful
counsel and valuable feedback over the years and Lidia Casas who has provided constant support
in the development and implementation of this research. Lidia, thank you for inspiring me to
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address women’s embodied reality of being criminalized for abortion in Chile, for the many
conversations on this issue over the years, and for always being available to assist and guide me
in this work. I would also like to acknowledge the University of Diego Portales, Center for
Human Rights, for your generous support of the visiting scholar position during my 11-month
fieldwork in Chile. I would be amiss if I did not extend gratitude to Barbara Sutton and Bandana
Purkayastha. The former who wrote Bodies in Crisis: Culture, Violence, and Women’s
Resistance in Neoliberal Argentina, an instrumental read that aided in the vision for this
research. The latter who assigned this reading in her class, Gender and Society: International
Perspectives, which offered a context for framing and understanding gender specific realities for
women on a global scale. Both Barbara and Bandana planted the seeds of inspiration for this
research. Many thanks to my language and research consultants, Morella Wojton Mora who has
roots in Chile and Teresa Serano of Guatemala, both have supported me in connecting women’s
lived experience to the broader constructs of inequality.
I am deeply indebted to my dissertation committee for their constant support and
guidance. Thank you for your time, commitment, and insight during the development,
implementation, and completion of this research. I am grateful to Megan Berthold for your
thoughtful questions, which reminded me to stay in my heart and invited me to go deeper in my
analysis. And to Nancy Naples for your concise direction, ongoing support with what at times
felt like difficult concepts to grasp, and encouragement to embrace resistance differently. I am
extremely grateful to the chair of my committee, Kathryn Libal. Words alone cannot express the
gratitude I feel for your unwavering support over the last six years. Thank you for joining me in
my vision for this research. Your insights and permeable guidance fostered an organic flow of
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creative ideas to be able to highlight women’s voices of injustice, while allowing me to grow as a
researcher. Much of this work is a reflection of the depth of your support. Mil gracias por todo!
The evolution of this research, from inception to completion, benefited from many hours
of processing ideas, concepts, and theoretical significance with a handful of committed friends. I
am grateful for the support of Jamie Daly for your love, guidance, and encouragement to learn
more; Grahame Russell for the many porch beers by the river and discussions about global to
local harms and resistance; and Ken Neubeck for being a sounding board while struggling to put
the dissertation together. I am especially grateful for the ongoing support of Pam Brown, who
has been my inspiration and mentor throughout the years. Without your love and support, I
would not be where I am. Thank you for processing with me when I felt stuck, for normalizing
the challenging moments, and for believing in me, even when I did not believe in myself.
Thank you to my friends and colleagues in Chile and the United States who have been
instrumental in my survival by supporting me in multiple ways before, during, and after
fieldwork. You have encouraged me by listening, helping me to network and process ideas, by
offering creative insights, and giving me a place to rest my weary head. I am forever grateful for
the love and support of Walter Ernesto Gomez Magallon, Marcelo Villagran Urra, Hector Torres,
Ady Jara Maribur, Judith Vogel, Tasia Smith, Francesa and Robert Erickson, Ken Nakamura,
Luis Cotto, and Joe Barber. Special thanks to my awesome cohort, Elizabeth Allen, Hiroki Toi,
and Jennifer Willett, for being a solid supportive team in this very difficult and rewarding
journey. Along with my cohort, I am grateful for doctoral colleagues Jack Lu, Karen Di’Angelo,
Janelle Bryan, and Reinaldo Rojas for your ongoing support, late night discussions about
inequality and social justice, and the much-needed monthly dance sessions at Real Art Ways.
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And thank you to Tina Chiarelli-Helminiak for the many talks during hikes and bike rides along
the river, and for your friendship, which I am very grateful.
I would like to thank the many faculty and staff at the University of Connecticut, School
of Social Work for supporting me in concrete and symbolic ways. Specifically, I would like to
thank Alex Gitterman who recognized my strengths; Lisa Werkmeister-Rozas and Scott Harding
for inspiring me to develop a research agenda with meaning; and to the many other faculty who I
could rely upon for needed hugs, support, conversation, respite, and inspiration—Ann Marie
Garran, Rebecca Thomas, Nina Heller, Robert Fisher, Brenda Kurz, Catherine Medina, Lirio
Negroni, Louise Simmons, Joan Letendre, Lynne Healy, John Bonelli, Edna Comer, Waldo
Klein, and Cristina Mogro Wilson. I would also like to extend appreciation for the support and
encouragement of Linda Frisman and Eleni Rodis. Thank you also to, Marilyn Cardoni, Bruce
Parkhurst, and Maria Williams, among others, for supporting me when I had questions and to
Kathy Birnie for your ongoing support to doctoral students and to the doctoral program.
I am grateful for the fiscal support I have received over the years, which has helped me
through coursework, pre-dissertation research, and the analysis and written portion of the
dissertation. This gratitude is extended to the Vicki and Michael Konover Scholarship, the T.
Roderick Silcott Scholarship, the Debra & Bruce Fischman Scholarship, and to the Sterling
Fund. In addition, I would like to thank the Human Rights Institute for receiving Graduate
Research Funding, El Instituto for receiving the Tinker Award and the Whetten Latin American
Fellowship, the University of Connecticut’s Graduate School for the Doctoral Dissertation
Fellowship, and the School of Social Work for receiving the Dissertation Writing Fellowship.
Lastly, I am grateful for the teaching and research assistant positions that I was fortunate to
receive. Thank you!
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I am forever grateful to my siblings, Maria, Carol, Randy, and Denise and to my brother-
in-law, Mark. I would not be here today if it was not for you. Thank you for helping to raise me,
for loving me through difficult years, and for supporting me in your unique ways. I am grateful
for my nieces and nephews, Kyle, Blair, Ashley, Sarah, Bruce, Alexandra, Shaun, and Nathan for
growing into such amazing humans who I love very much. Thank you to my Chilean family for
your love and support while in Chile and for showing me how complex the realities were during
and are after the dictatorship. And for my father, who immigrated to the United States so we
could have different opportunities than what he grew up with, including access to education. I
know he would be proud of me and if he were alive today would say, “oh Godzilla!”