Abortion: Conflict of Fear and Choice (A Study of the Social Circumstances Surrounding the Emergence of Abortion in the City of Mashhad)

Using a grounded theory approach, this qualitative research has aimed to find out the interpretations and rationales of the women in Mashhad regarding their experience of abortion. Based on a grounded theory approach, the research has tried to understand the psychological significance of the account of 28 women in Mashhad regarding the action of abortion and the causal, interventional, and contextual conditions surrounding their decision towards this action. To this end, using meaningful and snowball sampling methods, 28 women belonging to various social groups in terms of age, financial and social classes, etc. were chosen and deep and semi-structured interviews were carried out with them. Data analysis using open, axial, and selective coding showed that the central category abstracted from the action of abortion in the sample is “abortion: conflict of fear and choice”. Moreover, this abortion: conflict of fear and choice has happened in special causal conditions including expedient individualism, job-related issues, education and financial foresight, lack of sufficient awareness regarding prevention of pregnancy, inefficient conjugal interactions and divorce, and interventional conditions (importance of body and preservation of beauty, isolation and psychological issues, perfectionist idea of child-rearing) and contextual conditions (social station and modern ideas, stigma) have become a background for and facilitated the decision towards abortion and this conflict. The findings implied that, in special circumstances, the women in the society view abortion as a choice through which they can free themselves from structural and social limitations and get their lives back on track.