Abortion-related services: Value clarification through ‘Difficult Dialogues’ strategies

Abstract

Midwives play a pivotal role in women’s health in the face of increased deaths related to backyard abortions. Since the commencement in South Africa of the Name of the Act No. 92 of 1996 that allows abortion services, there has been a moral divide among healthcare workers in South Africa. This article reflects the opinions of preregistration midwifery students regarding abortion-related services. Narrative data were collected from 34 preregistration midwifery students and were analysed using open coding. The opinions of the students before the value clarification exercise were categorised into against abortion, for abortion and abortion under special conditions. After the value clarification process, the views were translated into pro-life choice, reserved judgement and autonomy. The results demonstrate that the integration of the value clarification process into midwifery preregistration education saw transformative learning and intellectual growth among learners in this study. We recommend that current social issues should engage students in transformative learning activities that entail a process of value clarification.