What I think about on the treadmill...

Today I went to the gym. Woohoo! And yes, I ate chocolate too. But most importantly, whilst on the treadmill I had a moment of clarity;

See I've been at a dead end, so to speak, for the last couple of weeks with regard to my Honours topic. I know I want to know about Women's experiences of miscarriage, but how to define it. Something which I keep coming back to (and am having difficulty with processing given that I am very much pro-choice) is the differences between what occurs for a women when undergoing a miscarriage and when having an abortion. See if you have an abortion, it is mandatory that you receive counselling before making the decision. So you have to have counselling to help you decide if you want to terminate a pregnancy, yet when you miscarry a baby that you actually want - to my knowledge there is no mandatory counselling. Why is that? I'm sure given the numbers of miscarrying that economically the answer is not to provide counselling sessions for all. But from a feminist perspective, does forcing people to submit to counselling before their decision to abort is accepted show that women are not to be trusted with their decision making. Likewise, why is the possiblity of women experiencing grief after suffering a miscarriage seemingly ignored.

So yes, I thought considering this is on my mind so much - the intersection btw miscarriage and abortion, why not change my topic somewhat to examine and contrast women's treatment experiences of miscarriage and abortion? So I might shoot off an email to my supervisor and see what she says? She'll probably say... 'Alexis, great idea... for a PhD!'.

I don't know.. I just think it is an angle worthy for discussion, you know. Because there are a lot of similarities. D&C for mc and D&C for abortion are given the same medicare number, and the medical terminology uses abortion for both of these things...so it might be an interesting concept?

The other thing I have noticed is that this topic is quite taboo. Not many people talk about it. Almost every single person I have told about this topic has come forward and had a story, either their own or someone they know. Women in particular have felt this affinity with this topic, which has reinforced the importance of it.

Anyway. Lets hope I get that bloody question sorted, hey?