Social pre-conditions for intensive mothering surfacing in abortion decision-making narratives in Western Australia

There are a variety of interconnected reasons why women choose to terminate their unplanned pregnancy, such as financial or emotional readiness. In this study, I interviewed 20 women who had experienced an abortion in Perth, Western Australia between 2010 and 2020. The goal of this narrative-based project was to examine tacit understandings of social norms for acceptable motherhood, which came to the fore through the unplanned pregnancy. I found that the participants assessed the timing of motherhood in relation to several social preconditions, namely, (1) relationship stability, (2) financial stability, (3) the timing of the unplanned pregnancy, (4) the perceived ability to provide for a(nother) child. Using the lens of Bourdieu’s concept of the habitus, I argue that the unplanned pregnancy is experienced as a disruption to tacit expectations of social preconditions that should exist for good mothering. This disruption enables the participants to clearly articulate their reasons for terminating the pregnancy. Tacit ideals of intensive mothering within a social setting that includes abortion as a possible course of action, the participants have considered their relational and structural circumstances, concluding that the abortion was a common-sense decision.