From Silence to #Shout: French-Language Abortion Narratives in Transnational Dialogue

Abstract

Abstract: Taking as premise that stories provide the frames through which we grasp and articulate lived experiences, this article brings abortion narratives into transnational and transgenerational dialogue in order to challenge the dominant story told about termination. Comprised of accounts of both clandestine and legal abortions occurring on three continents (Algeria, Hexagonal France, and Belgium, with critical parallels noted in US narratives), including four literary texts, several collections of testimonies, and one documentary film, the corpus highlights core commonalties that cut across experiences of termination, demonstrating the global impact that women's health stories harbor. Part One examines Bey's Au commencement était la mer , Malinconi's Hôpital silence , Ernaux's L'événement , and, to a lesser extent, Guathier's Paroles d'avortées , discussing the dehumanization of institutional violence and lack of information as key commonalities. Turning to contemporary abortion narratives in a variety of genres, Part Two shows how silence, stigma, and dehumanization continue to characterize abortion stories today, but also notes a shared volition to craft new narratives of intelligibility. Finally, Part Three discusses the power harbored in dialogue amongst abortion narratives of all types, notably in terms of the medical humanities and the expansion of language available to express lived experiences, but more importantly as foundation for a relational understanding of abortion as part of reproductive care—a notion nascent in contemporary narratives, but which comes to the fore when stories are circulated as feminist folklore.