Abortion in Aotearoa - Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

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INDIGENOUS (MĀORI) SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS IN NEW

ZEALAND: ATTENDING TO CULTURAL COMPLEXITY AND ADVOCATING

RESPONSIVE PRACTICE IN ABORTION SERVICES

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN CONFERENCE 2018

WAIPUNA HOTEL & CONFERENCE CENTRE, MOUNT WELLINGTON 1

^ST

SEPTEMBER 2018

DR JADE LE GRICE & NGĀHUIA JACOBS

SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY, THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

EMAIL [email protected]

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THANK YOU TO

AUCKLAND MEDICAL AID TRUST

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MĀORI PERSPECTIVES ON ABORTION

• Dominant representations of traditional Māori patterns of practice associated with reproduction indicate disapproval of abortion

(Turia, 2007; Rimene, Hassan, & Broughton, 1998; Manihera &

Turnbull, 1990).

• Yet, historical accounts of Māori practices of abortion tell a more complex story.

• Abortion was not linguistically distinguished from miscarriage (T. Smith, 2012).

• Known and accepted methods for causing a loss of conception (Palmer,

2002; T. Smith, 2012; Tangohau, 2003).

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MIS-REPRESENTATION OF MĀORI PERSPECTIVES ON ABORTION

• Existing research about Māori engagement with abortion, written by Pākehā men. Constituted within colonising, oppressive notions about Māori that are tied to notions of Māori savagery.

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Assumed patriarchal gender relations, and negative and vengeful subject positions for women (e.g. Hunton, 1977).

•

Suggested abortion was widely practiced among Māori due to ‘‘savagery’’ (e.g. Hunton, 1977) .

•

Suggested abortion was not practiced due to ‘‘superstition’’ (e.g. Gluckman, 1973, 1981).

• Narratives aligned with wider national narratives of missionaries ‘‘saving’’

Māori through British colonisation and assumption of rule (Pool, 2015) and

interpretations of Māori cultural deficits

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ATTENDING TO MĀORI REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS IN AN UNDER-RESEARCHED AREA:

WHAT ARE CONTEMPORARY MĀORI

PERSPECTIVES ON ABORTION?

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

• Mana Wāhine research (Irwin, 1992; Le Grice, 2014; Pihama, 2001;

Simmonds, 2009, 2011).

• Decolonising historical and contemporary colonial interpretations about Māori

• Legitimating mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledges)

• Acknowledging diverse realities in a multicultural, global context.

• Recursive process

• Literature review

• Interviewing 43 participants (15 men, 16 women, 12 key informants)

• Critical realist, Māori social constructionist, thematic analysis of

data

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DEVELOPING AN EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE BASE, BY MĀORI WOMEN, FOR MĀORI

WOMEN:

MĀORI PERSPECTIVES ON ABORTION THREE THEMES

1. PROTECTION OF NEW LIFE

2. WHĀNAU INVESTMENT & SUPPORT 3. WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL CHOICE

DRAWN FROM: LE GRICE, J. & BRAUN, V. (2017). INDIGENOUS (MĀORI) PERSPECTIVES ON ABORTION

IN NEW ZEALAND, FEMINISM & PSYCHOLOGY 27(2).

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2. WHĀNAU INVESTMENT & SUPPORT 3. WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL CHOICE

• I’d just say look, have it and go and adopt it, if you want to adopt it. At least you know it’s, it’s being born into the world.

Yeah, you know? But yeah, but not that [draws in a sharp

breath] Yep. [Extract 1, Maori elder, woman, 50s, rural]

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2. WHĀNAU INVESTMENT & SUPPORT 3. WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL CHOICE

• I would be devastated if she, if I didn’t know that my daughter um ah was pregnant you know and had aborted her baby. I would have been devastated . . . I feel for my daughter to be so so alone to

have to make a decision like that . . . I find that um there’s a strong need I don’t know what it is and I don’t know, for a [Māori elder]

element within that, ah an elders support group who were there for children, who were there for these young kids. [Extract 7, man,

40s, rural]

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2. WHĀNAU INVESTMENT & SUPPORT 3. WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL CHOICE

• I remember the counsellor at the, at the [abortion] clinic . . . She made sure that I was sure about it. So that’s when I I like really explained to her, you

know, that . . . this is the last thing that I wanted to happen but that I actually just couldn’t I couldn’t bear another child any more like, you know? I just

talked to her about my relationship with my partner . . . I had to be blunt and let her know that you know we don’t have the best family, well we didn’t

create the best family environment to have a family in . . . we had a um (2.0)

a mind game kind of relationship where, emotional abusive relationship kind

of thing . . . Like it got really bad it escalated and escalated to a point where

like (1.0) fists were flying and Hıria was scared and um (2.0) you know cars

were being crashed and shit like that. It just got really, really bad. [Extract 5,

woman, 20s, urban]

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MĀORI SEXUAL & REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS:

ADVOCATING CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICE

LEGITIMATING MĀTAURANGA MĀORI (MĀORI KNOWLEDGES) IN ABORTION SERVICES

1. KAI ATAWHAI

2. MANAAKITANGA

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KAI ATAWHAI

• I think one of the biggest practice and traditions is about Māori

women taking the whenua (abortive tissue) home and I think that’s

a huge thing . . .Um you know abortion’s still a very secretive um

issue, you know? Some whānau . . . you know, ‘I haven’t told my

mother yet’ you know but . . . ‘I’ll be taking it home because my

mother will be burying it’. So . . . the parents may not agree with

um, you know, the actual abortion but there’s still some of that

traditional . . . [practice of] whenua (abortive tissue) to whenua

(land). [Extract 9, clinician, 50s, urban]

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KAI ATAWHAI

• Written by Jade Le Grice & Takawai Jacobs for the Abortion

Supervisory Committee Guidelines for Practice (in development)

• The practice of whenua ki te whenua (returning pregnancy

tissue/placenta to ancestral lands) is significant to reproductive health.

• This practice nurtures connections between atua, tangata and

whenua, providing kai atawhai (sheltering and protection) in these domains.

• Kai atawhai can occur through respect and acknowledgement of

the developing tissue, as part of the woman, when this is returned

to whenua (land) significant to the lives of ancestors and future

descendants.

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MANAAKITANGA

• Written by Jade Le Grice for the Abortion Supervisory Committee Guidelines for Practice (in development)

• Abortion Services have a responsibility to manaaki (show respect for, support, care, protect) those who decide to engage with them.

• Good provision of manaakitanga (the process of showing

generosity, support and care for others) works to enhance a

person/people’s mana (inherent dignity), retains the safety and

health of their interconnected mauri (life force), and mobilises their

tino rangatiratanga (ability to make their own informed choices).

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MANAAKITANGA & WELLBEING/HEALTH

• Hinengaro - mental wellbeing – the degree to which space has been made available to the person to feel safe to open up, how she makes sense of these experiences, how this may be mediated by the cultural and social environment, norms, assumptions, routine practices (eg. foyer décor, conversations, physical procedures, visible ultrasound).

• Tinana - physical wellbeing – the degree to which the person’s behaviour and non-verbal communication has been attended to, to ascertain what they need, how comfortable she feels voicing

disquiet or unease, interprets bodily sensations, elicits support, is

taken seriously and offered adequate support (e.g. engagement

and due regard for safety in physical procedures, pain relief or

contraceptive options).

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MANAAKITANGA & WELLBEING/HEALTH

• Wairua - spiritual domains of wellbeing – the degree to which

respect is maintained for her spiritual process, how she makes meaning of this through her senses, and is provided with time, space, and access to practices that ease her wairua (e.g spiritual, aspirational, & religious needs).

• Whānau – family and community aspects of wellbeing – the degree to which potential whānau challenges are understood, clarity in her

decision regarding whānau involvement, spaces to cater for supportive whānau, an opportunity to reflect upon broaching conversation with whānau afterwards, and if appropriate, reflections on future whānau

aspirations (eg. pre & post-abortion conversations & comfortable spaces

for whānau support).

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REDRESSING THE SILENCING OF MĀTAURANGA MĀORI IN ABORTION

SERVICES

• The deliberate loss of conception is not anathema to Māori knowledges, ways of being and patterns of practice

• Māori are diverse in their understanding and engagement with mātauranga Māori, with implications for their perspectives on abortion

• Christian influences, focus on protecting the new life (although often framed as personal choice)

• Mana Wāhine, women‘s self determination in the context of her unique circumstances, hopes, dreams and aspirations

• Focus and prioritisation of whānau, and care for one another (whangai, and/or support for the individual woman)

• The provision of culturally resonant care, and the incorporation of mātauranga Māori in health services, is a right promised to us in Te Tiriti o Waitangi

• Scope for Kai atawhai

• Importance of manaakitanga

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MĀORI SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS:

INTEGRATING RESEARCH & PRACTICE

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THANK YOU

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REFERENCE LIST

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Agadjanian, V. (2002). Is ‘‘abortion culture’’ fading in the former Soviet Union? Views about abortion and contraception in Kazakhstan. Studies in Family Planning, 33(3), 237–248.

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Beckman, L. (2017). Abortion in the United States: The continuing controversy. Feminism and Psychology, 27, 101–113.

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Gluckman, L. K. (1973). Māori attitudes to abortion. The Linacre Quarterly, 40(1), 44–48.

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Gluckman, L. K. (1981). Abortion in the nineteenth century Māori: A historical and ethnopsychiatric review. New Zealand Medical Journal, 93(685), 384–386.

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Henshaw, S. K. (1990). Induced abortion: A world review, 1990. Family Planning Perspectives, 22(2), 76–89.

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Hunton, R. (1977). Māori abortion practices in pre and early European New Zealand. The New Zealand Medical Journal, 86(602), 567–570.

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Irwin, K. (1992). Towards theories of Māori feminism. In R. D. Plessis (Ed.), Feminist voices:

Women’s studies texts for Aotearoa/New Zealand. Auckland, New Zealand: Oxford University Press.

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Le Grice, J. (2014). Māori and reproduction, sexuality education, maternity and abortion. (Doctor of Philosophy), The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

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Le Grice, J. & Braun, V. (2017). Indigenous (Māori) perspectives on abortion in New Zealand, Feminism & Psychology 27(2).

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REFERENCE LIST

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Manihera, C., & Turnbull, T. (1990). Some gynecological issues from a rural Māori perspective. New Zealand Medical Journal, 103, 458–459.

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Palmer, S. (2002). Hei oranga mo nga wahine hapu (o Hauraki) i roto i te whare ora (Doctor of Philosophy), University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

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Pihama, L. (2001). Tihei Mauri Ora: Honouring our voices: Mana Wahine as a Kaupapa Māori

Theoretical Framework (Doctor of Philosophy), The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

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Pool, I. (2015). Colonization and development in New Zealand Between 1769 and 1900: The Seeds of Rangiatea (Vol. 3). Cham, Germany, Switzerland: Springer International.

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Rimene, C., Hassan, C., & Broughton, J. (1998). Ukaipo: The place of nurturing. Māori women and childbirth. Dunedin, New Zealand: Te Roopu Rangahau Hauora Māori o Ngai Tahu.

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Simmonds, N. (2009). Mana wahine geographies: Spiritual, spatial and embodied understandings of Papatuanuku (Master of Social Sciences), The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.

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Simmonds, N. (2011). Mana wahine: Decolonising politics. Women’s Studies Journal, 25(2), 11–

25.T. Smith, 2012

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Tangohau, A. (2003). Te Mana a nga W ahine Whare Tangata ¼ M aori women in the role of mothering (Master of Arts), Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.

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Turia, T. (2007). Notice of motion. Retrieved from

http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/debates/debates/daily/48HansD_20070614/volume-639-week- 46-thursday-14-june-2007.