Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brasil.
Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brasil.
Cad Saude Publica. 2020 Feb 10;36Suppl 1(Suppl 1):e00035618. doi: 10.1590/0102-311X00035618. eCollection 2020.
This article aims to analyze the practices and meanings involved in obstetric ultrasound (USG) in women undergoing abortion at public maternity hospital in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. This is a qualitative ethnographic study that included three months of participant observation in the interactions between these women and medical and non-medical staff in the USG room of a public maternity hospital. USG has a central place in women's abortion itinerary, and its practice is incorporated into the institution's routine and the definition of approaches to abortion care at the maternity hospital studied here. In this context, distinct categories of "women with abortion" are produced and mobilized according to the interpretation of the USG images. The way the health condition and moral status of a woman with suspected abortion are defined depends on the presence or absence of a live fetus in her uterus, in addition to the gestational age at which the attempted or completed abortion occurred. We conclude that when the USG evidence indicates that there was (probably) an abortion in the initial stages of a pregnancy, the health professionals themselves help the women by disconnecting the semiotic process that would result in assigning a sense of human nature to the embryo. The later a pregnancy is terminated, the more likely the process of defining the images will sustain the idea that there was a person there. The hegemonic morals on abortion and its criminalization in Brazil modulate the symbolic constructions and practices involved in the USG test in women experiencing abortion.
本文旨在分析巴西巴伊亚州萨尔瓦多市公立医院堕胎女性的产科超声（USG）实践及其意义。这是一项定性人种学研究，包括在公立医院 USG 室中，对这些女性与医疗和非医疗人员之间的互动进行为期三个月的参与式观察。USG 在女性堕胎行程中占有核心地位，其实践被纳入机构常规和所研究的产科医院堕胎护理方法的定义中。在这种情况下，根据 USG 图像的解释，会产生并调动不同类别的“堕胎女性”。疑似堕胎女性的健康状况和道德地位的定义取决于其子宫内是否存在活胎，以及试图或完成堕胎时的妊娠龄。我们得出结论，当 USG 证据表明妊娠早期可能发生过堕胎时，卫生专业人员会通过中断将胚胎赋予人性意义的符号过程来帮助女性。妊娠终止得越晚，定义图像的过程就越有可能维持存在人的观念。巴西对堕胎的主流道德观念及其将堕胎定罪的做法，调节了在经历堕胎的女性中进行 USG 测试所涉及的符号构建和实践。
