WOMENS HIDDEN TRANSCRIPTS ABOUT ABORTION IN BRAZIL

Two folk medical conditions, ''delayed'' (atrasada) and ''suspended'' (suspendida) menstruation, are described as perceived by poor Brazilia n women in Northeast Brazil. Culturally prescribed methods to ''regula te'' these conditions and provoke menstrual bleeding are also describe d, including ingesting herbal remedies, patent drugs, and modern pharm aceuticals. The ingestion of such self-administered remedies is facili tated by the cognitive ambiguity, euphemisms, folklore, etc., which su rround conception and gestation. The authors argue that the ethnomedic al conditions of ''delayed'' and ''suspended'' menstruation and subseq uent menstrual regulation are part of the ''hidden reproductive transc ript'' of poor and powerless Brazilian women. Through popular culture, they voice their collective dissent to the official, public opinion a bout the illegality and immorality of induced abortion and the chronic lack of family planning services in Northeast Brazil. While many heal th professionals consider women's explanations of menstrual regulation as a ''cover-up'' for self-induced abortions, such popular justificat ions may represent either an unconscious or artful manipulation of heg emonic, anti-abortion ideology expressed in prudent, unobtrusive and v eiled ways. The development of safer abortion alternatives should cons ider women's hidden reproductive transcripts. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scienc e Ltd.