A pill to control the uterus: misoprostol and reproductive politics in Burkina Faso and Senegal

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Résumé

African women’s uteri have long been objects of biomedical and technolo-
gical control, from the promotion and discouragement of births by colonial
authorities and development experts, to the neoliberal and feminist achieve-
ments of reproductive autonomy through consuming pharmaceutical pro-
ducts. We explore misoprostol – a medication for abortion and hemorrhage –
as a technology for reproductive control in Burkina Faso and Senegal. By
tracing authorized and unauthorized misoprostol use and distribution within
and beyond hospitals, and in official and unofficial pharmaceutical circuits,
we examine the perils of and possibilities for uterine control offered by this
medication to local, national, and global stakeholders.

Mots-clés

Abortion; Burkina Faso; ethnography; maternal mortality; misoprostol; Senegal