Abortion is significantly restricted by law in most Pacific Island countries, impacting the rights, health and autonomy of people who experience pregnancy. We undertook qualitative research between February and August 2022 on Rarotonga, Cook Islands, where abortion is illegal under most circumstances. We conducted interviews with women who had accessed or tried to access abortion services; people who had supported women to access abortion services; health workers; and advocates to understand their experiences regarding abortion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAbortion is significantly restricted by law in most Pacific Island countries, and this has profound implications for the lives and health of women from this region. There are limited data on how abortion is framed in the Pacific Islands: that is, interpreted, discussed, and made meaningful as an issue in public forums. How abortion is framed can have implications for how it is treated in public and political debate and policy, abortion stigmatisation, and inform advocacy strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Oceania region is home to some of the world's most restrictive abortion laws, and there is evidence of Pacific Island women's reproductive oppression across several aspects of their reproductive lives, including in relation to contraceptive decision-making, birthing, and fertility. In this paper we analyse documents from court cases in the Pacific Islands regarding the illegal procurement of abortion. We undertook inductive thematic analysis of documents from eighteen illegal abortion court cases from Pacific Island countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To investigate the prevalence, extent, and severity of oral-health-related quality of life among dental patients in far north Queensland, Australia.
Methods: A questionnaire was designed consisting of two parts: socio-demographic questions and the short form of Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) in part 1 and 2 respectively. The survey was conducted from July to August 2014 among patients attending the James Cook University Dental Clinic.