Illustrating the abortion process
The beginning of the project
In 2020, the Fédération Laïque de Centres de Planning Familial (FLCPF) contacted us to produce a new tool illustrating the abortion process, in collaboration with Médecins du Monde Belgium, Gacehpa and Cultures & Santé.
The main aim of the project is to provide an illustrated information tool enabling professionals to explain the various stages of an abortion to a public with little, poor or no understanding of the French language, either written or spoken.
The project also has a secondary objective: to use a common explanatory medium between the different professionals, from the first request to the intervention.
Illustrating the abortion process
The guide was produced on the basis of focus groups between exiled people, The Ink Link and professionals from Médecins du Monde, City Planning at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Saint-Pierre and VUB-Dilemma. During these focus groups, we were able to test draft illustrations, and a prototype of the tool was tested in a real-life situation by professionals from centers providing and not providing abortions, and from partner hospitals. We were also able to count on the input of professional and real-life experts to evaluate the final edition of the tool.
The guide has four main objectives:
- To make it easier for the beneficiaries to understand the different stages of pregnancy termination and the usefulness of the various technical gestures;
- To help professionals make their language more accessible to people with little, poor or no understanding of the French language;
- Offer these beneficiaries the opportunity to better understand the process and make them the actors of their choice;
- Empower communication using a common visual tool.
Designing the tool
The tool has been designed as an explanatory aid for professionals, to help them welcome and support a request for termination of pregnancy. The cards serve as a visual support for the professional's narration and facilitate the overall perception of the different stages of the abortion process. Thus, greatly reassuring the patient and enabling him/her to express himself/herself more easily thanks to these images.
The tool can also be used in group sessions as part of education on relationships, emotions, and sexuality. Group use with exiled people in precarious situations has shown that the images raise questions not only about the various stages of a pregnancy termination, but also more broadly about anatomy. The functioning of the genital organs, gynecological examinations, confidentiality, and contraception.
Distribution of the guide is supervised by family planning centers, and is aimed at teams working in outpatient centers and hospitals that perform abortions, as well as those working in relay structures. The distribution of the guide helps to establish a network, facilitating the flow of information between professionals and making it easier for patients to pass on their requests to the hospital or outpatient center.
The guide can be ordered from the FLCPF, on their documentation site.
