Abortion is among the most stigmatized reproductive health issues faced by women in the United States. Using the reproductive justice framework, we discuss the numerous obstacles Mexican immigrant women and teens living in North Carolina face in seeking abortions and the ways in which the barriers experienced by these women are the product of intersecting forms of oppression based on race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, age, immigration status and linguistic abilities, among others. These struggles are depicted through ethnographic data as well as interviews with midwives, program directors, folk healers (curanderas/os) and Mexican immigrant women and girls making decisions about abortion. Their experiences are analyzed to highlight that Mexican immigrant women and teens are restricted by legal and medical institutions. The findings focus on how these women ultimately receive abortion services in the face of structural barriers to formal care and why women often seek abortion care outside of the formal health-care sector. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Folk healers North Carolina curandera abortion Mexico Immigration

[No Keywords available]