Embodied Reproductive Citizenship

The restrictive abortion landscape in the Faroe Islands is the ethnographic departure for exploring emotions and embodiments of reproductive citizenship. We develop a theoretical framework inspired by the concept of embodied citizenship with which we analyse the interrelational meanings, and the wider societal implications of women’s narratives from a restricted abortion landscape in the Faroe Islands. We find that women relationally, bodily, and emotionally (re)negotiate their reproductive citizenship when considering and securing access to an abortion. The emotions and embodiments are here linked to perceived social expectations of the women’s bodies and of what gendered citizenship should be, and how this can be represented in the context of the Faroese society. We argue that women’s bodies are markers for battles in society and by women themselves as a mean to attain and protect reproductive citizenship. We highlight the emotional tensions and ambivalences in their narratives as expressions of the constrained citizenship constructions and the interrelational experiences of threatened belonging in society.