Embracing complexity to challenge stigma: a qualitative analysis of representations of abortion in a Polish storytelling initiative.

Abstract

Testimonies of abortion experiences are largely silenced in many contexts around the world, including Poland, and stigma affects how abortion is represented. Pro-choice initiatives, which support abortion rights, aim to challenge stigma through the sharing of personal abortion experiences (i.e. abortion storytelling). However, these initiatives may simultaneously construct normative hierarchies of abortion and stigmatise abortion stories which do not fit context-specific, politicised norms. This study draws on data purposefully sampled from a pro-choice abortion storytelling initiative in Poland, conducted between 2020 and 2021, and organised by the Abortion Dream Team (ADT; Aborcyjny Dream Team), an influential Polish organisation campaigning for abortion access and rights. By conducting a qualitative document analysis of 73 first-person abortion stories shared in this initiative, I explored how abortion was represented, and whether, and how, these representations challenged abortion stigma and its manifestation in normative hierarchies of abortion. Using reflexive thematic analysis, I identified four main themes. My findings show that abortion is represented as a valid decision, both a positive and challenging experience, and an embodied process. The stories shared in the ADT storytelling initiative challenge stigma and deconstruct normative hierarchies of abortion by representing abortion as a complex experience imbued with multiple, and often contradictory, meanings. This study highlights the existence of positive and non-stigmatising representations of abortion in Poland and shows that abortion storytelling can challenge dominant narratives around abortion. These findings therefore have broader significance, as they suggest that abortion storytelling may serve as an effective tool to destigmatise abortion and advance abortion rights. DOI:10.1080/26410397.2025.2535835.