The stigmatisation of abortion: a qualitative analysis of print media in Great Britain in 2010

Figures & data

Table 1 Summary of articles by genre (n = 91).

Genre	Newspaper title	No. of articles
‘Serious’	The Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph	18
	The Guardian and The Observer	8
	The Independent and The Independent on Sunday	4
	The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday	3
	The Herald and Sunday Herald	3
Mid-market	The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday	19
	The Daily Express and Sunday Express	12
	Edinburgh Evening News	2
Tabloid	The Sun	12
	The Daily Mirror	5
	Daily Record	5
	Total	91

Table 2 Examples of stigmatising associations between abortion and other phenomena.

Association: abortion and…	Quotation
Immigration/health tourism	‘Every year thousands of Polish “abortion tourists” travel to Britain where they can have the procedure for free under EU regulations. As long as they can claim the termination is an “emergency”, they do not have to pay.’ (The Daily Mail 16 March 2010)
Binge drinking	‘The devastating impact binge drinking has on young women has been exposed in a shocking study. The report found that “ladettes” who drink to excess are 40 per cent more likely to have an abortion.’ (The Daily Express, 21 August 2010)
Terrorism and slavery	‘Lord Nicholas […] claims that abortion is a bigger threat to Europe than al-Qaeda and Islamic terrorism. He describes abortion as “the single most grievous moral deficit in contemporary life” and calls for a “new abolitionism for Europe” in which abortion, like the slave trade, can be abolished.’ (The Telegraph, 20 December 2010)
Underage sex/teen pregnancy	‘The number of schoolgirls having abortions has reached a five-year high in the Lothians. New figures have revealed there were 108 underage pregnancies in the region last year, with 71 being terminated.’ (Edinburgh Evening News, 30 June 2010)
Promiscuity/ casual sex	‘There were concerns it [post-conception advice advert] could encourage women to have an abortion, when they had not previously considered the option, and could encourage promiscuity.’ (The Herald, 4 August 2010)
Rape	‘“I am pro-choice. But I am not pro-choice about rape, burglary, kidnapping or killing children”.’ (The Independent, 26 October 2010)