A critical feminist discursive analysis of dynamics shaping abortion in Canada: Implications for nursing.

The advent of “the abortion pill” (Mifegymiso) in 2015 has shaped the contemporary context of access to abortion in Canada. In this paper, we highlight findings of a literature review that uses a gender and intersectional lens and critical discourse analysis to explore contemporary abortion access and implications for nursing. The discursive dynamics influencing nurses’ understandings of abortion, that is, the contexts in which some discourses are privileged over others yet often operate at the unconscious level to influence everyday knowledge and practices, are important to discern to work towards social justice goals. Findings suggest that normative and contradictory features of discourses such as women’s health, motherhood, and abortion access are relevant. Given the relative silence of abortion in nursing literature and prevailing gender normativity in nursing, there are compelling reasons to apply a critical feminist lens to deepen nurses’ understandings and critical reflection about abortion. There are implications for current education, research, and nursing practice.