Selective Abortions in Montenegro: Legal and Anthropological Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v19i2.6Keywords:
selective abortions, Montenegro, masculinity, tribal system, unlawful termination of pregnancy, liabilityAbstract
In the old Montenegrin masculine patriarchal culture, having children was one of the primary motivations for marriage. Women in labour faced significant community pressure to give birth to a male child, as evidenced by various ethnographic records and confirmed by contemporary anthropological research. Montenegro exhibits one of the most unbalanced ratios of newborn male to female babies among countries. This necessitates an analysis that integrates legal and anthropological perspectives on son preference. The article explores the socio-historical circumstances and modern expressions of the cult of the male child, followed by an examination of the legal implications of selective abortions. The legal dimension of abortion encompasses a broad normative framework, with the fundamental question concerning the boundary of legal protection in this area, i.e., the limit of state intervention in the personal sphere of individuals and citizens. The legal analysis will also include a reflection on the impact of criminal legal protection on this debate, particularly through the lens of the criminal offense of unlawful termination of pregnancy as stipulated in Article 150 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro. Considering the scope of rights to life, family, and reproduction, and recognizing that pregnancy termination motivated by sex selection is generally prohibited, yet this practice is widespread, the assumption is that the formal legal means to address this issue are limited. As this is a societal phenomenon involving sensitive legal, personal, cultural, religious, political, social, and moral issues, the paper discusses approaches for combating this practice.
Downloads
References
Banović, B. 2011. „Ekonomska osnova modela tradicionalnog crnogorskog maskuliniteta”. Etnoantropološki problemi 2(6): 429–442. https://doi.org/10.21301/EAP.v6i2.8
Banović, B. 2016. The Montenegrin Warrior Tradition: Questions and Controversies over NATO Membership. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Banović, B. 2017a. Analiza narativne komponente modela tradicionalnog crnogorskog maskuliniteta. Istorijski zapisi 3-4: 53-67;
Banovic, B. 2017b. „An Anthropological Perspective on Negative Attitudes toward Women and Homosexuals in Montenegro”. In: Buxton, Ch. and R. A. Kuzy (eds.). Reimagining Civil Society. Bishkek: Department of Sociology: American University of Central Asia, 21–29 (English), 109–119 (Russian).
Banović, B. 2021. „Feminiziranost homoseksualaca u kontekstu tradicionalne mizoginije i moderne homofobije”. U Milica Stanić Radonjić, Predrag Zenović i Dušan Medin (ur.) Otkrivanje skrivenog: Crna Gora, kvir and (s)rodne teme. Petrovac na moru/Podgorica: Društvo za kulturni razvoj „Bauo”, LGBT Forum Progres, 161-181.
Bélanger, D. 2002. „Sex Selective Abortions: Short-term and Long-term Perspectives”. Reproductive Health Matters 10(19): 184–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0968-8080(02)00033-2
Bhatia, R. 2018. Gender before Birth – Sex selection in a transnational context. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Boellstorff, T. 2007. „Queer Studies in the House of Anthropology”. Annual Review of
Anthropology 36: 17–35. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.36.081406.094421
Brković, Č. 2014. „The Quest for Legitimacy: Discussing Language and Sexuality in Montenegro”. In Mirroring Europe, 161-185. Ed. T Petrovic. Brill.
Brković, Č., Kalezić, D. 2016. „Queering as Europeanisation, Europeanisation as Queering”. In LGBT Activism and Europeanisation in the Post-Yugoslav Space, 155-177. Ed. B Bilic. Palgrave.
Brković, Č. 2021. „In the Name of Daughter. Anthropology of Gender in Montenegro. Introduction”. Comparative Southeast European Studies 69(1): 5–18. https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2021-2013
Chun, H., Das Gupta, M. 2009. „Gender discrimination in sex selective abortions and its transition in South Korea”. Women's Studies International Forum (32): 89–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2009.03.008
Citro, B., J. Gilson, S. Kalantry nad K. Stricker, 2014. „Replacing Myths with Facts: Sex-Selective Abortion Laws in The United States”. Global Human Rights Clinic, 7: 1–38.
Connell, R. 1987. Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics. Palo Alta: University of California Press.
Connell, B. 1995. „Men at Bay: The ʻMen’s Movementʼ and Its Newest Best-Sellers”. In: Kimmel, M. (ed.) The Politics of Manhood. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 65–75.
Connell, R. W. 2000. The Men and the Boys. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Clatterbaugh, K. 2004. „What is Problematic about Masculinities?”. In: Murphy, P. F. (ed.) Feminism and Masculinities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 200–214.
Davidović, J. 2022. „Patrijarhalna uvjerenja i medijsko portetisanje rodnih odnosa na primjeru selektivnih abortusa u Crnoj Gori”. Doktorska disertacija. Univerzitet Crne Gore, Fakultet političkih nauka.
Davis D. L. and R. G. Whitten. 1987. „The Cross-Cultural Study of Human Sexuality”. Annual Review of Anthropology 16: 66–98. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.16.100187.000441
Delić, N. 2021. Krivično pravo – Posebni deo. Beograd: Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu.
Dimiri, A., Gille, A., Ketz, P. 2021. „Measuring sex-selective abortion: How many women abort? ”. HAL Open science (halshs-03495964), 1–31.
Drezgić, R. 2005. The Politics of Abortion and Contraception. Sociologija 46(2): 97–114.
https://doi.org/10.2298/SOC0402097D
Drezgić, R. 2016. Pregnancy Prevention and/or Termination: On history of Birth Control in Serbia. Sociologija 58(3): 335-349. https://doi.org/10.2298/SOC1603335D
Epprecht, M. 2006. „ʻBisexualityʼ and the Politics of Normal in African Ethnography”. Anthropologica 48(2):187–201. https://doi.org/10.2307/25605310
Gezeman, G. (1934) 2003. Crnogorski čovjek. Podgorica: CID
Greasley, K. 2017. Arguments about Abortion Personhood, Morality, and Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Guilmoto, C., Rahm, L. 2015. „Preventing gender-biased sex selection in Eastern Europe and Central Asia”. UNFPA, 4, 1–7.
Gutmann, M. C. 1997. „Trafficking in Men: The Anthropology of Masculinity”. Annual Review of Anthropology 26: 385–409. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.385
Higgins, A. 2016. „Sex-Selection Abortion: The Real War on Women”. American Reports Series Issue, 11: 1–25.
Hughson, M. 2017. Muškarci u Srbiji: druga strana rodne ne/ravnopravnosti. Beograd: Institut za kriminološka i sociološka istraživanja.
Johnson, B. R. Jr., Keogh, L., Norman, W. V. (2020). „What would be the likely impact of decriminalisation on the incidence, timing, provision and safety of abortion?”. In S. Sheldon, K. Wellings (Eds.), Decriminalising Abortion in The UK - What Would It Mean? (pp. 99–125). Great Britain: Policy Press Shorts Policy and Practice.
Kalantry, S. 2017. Women’s human rights and migration: sex-selective abortion laws in the United States and India. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Kancelarija za rodnu ravnopravnost 2008, Zaštita žena od nasilja, Dokumenti Savjeta Evrope, Podgorica.
Kimmel, M. 2004. „Masculinities”. In: Kimmel, M. and A. Aronson (eds.) Men and Masculinities. A Social, Cultural and Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC CLIO, 503–507.
Kimmel, M. S. 2005. The History of Men. New York: State University of New York Press.
Kiščenko, D. 2021. „An Ethnographic Exploration of Son Preference and Inheritance Practices in Montenegro”. Comparative Southeast European Studies 69(1): 19-43. https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2021-2003
Krstajić, V. 2018. „Aktivnosti krivičnog odeljenja Vrhovnog kasacionog suda na ujednačavanju sudske prakse”. Bilten VKS 2: 9–48.
Lepetić, T. 2011. „Porodica i roditeljstvo kao kulturna i politička kategorija u savremenoj Crnoj Gori”. Antropologija 11(3): 75-96.
Lubura, M. 2021. „Pravo na abortus u savremenom pravu i praksi Evropskog suda za ljudska prava”. Strani pravni život 65(1); 159–170. https://doi.org/10.5937/spz65-28264
Milošević, M., Banović, B. 2022. „Criminal Aspects of Medical Errors”. Kultura polisa 19(1): 45–61. https://doi.org/10.51738/Kpolisa2022.19.1r.3mb
Mujović-Zornić, H. 2009. „Reproduktivna prava: aktuelna pitanja kasnog pobačaja”. Stanovništvo (1), 49–67. https://doi.org/10.2298/STNV0901049M
Pajvančić, M. 2009. Komentar Ustava Republike Srbije. Beograd: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.
Pavićević, A. 2007. „Bračni i porodični život – društvena politika i procesi transformacije”, u Milan Ristović (ur.) Privatni život u Srba u dvadesetom veku. Beograd: Clio, 59–74.
Purewal, N. 2010. Son Preference – Sex Selection, Gender and Culture in South Asia. Oxford, New York: Berg.
Rahm, L. 2020. Gender-Biased Sex Selection in South Korea, India and Vietnam – Assessing the Influence of Public Policy. Switzerland: Springer.
Rašević, M. 2001. „Reproduktivno zdravlje stanovništva Crne Gore: rezultati anketnog istraživanja”. Stanovnistvo 39(1-4):73-90. https://doi.org/10.2298/STNV0104073R
Rašević, M. 1993. Ka razumevanju abortusa u Srbiji. Beograd: Univerzitet u Beogradu, Institut društvenih nauka, Centar za demografska istraživanja.
Rašević, M., K. Sedlecki (2007). Ginekolozi i abortusno pitanje u Srbiji”. Stanovništvo 45(1): 33–45. https://doi.org/10.2298/STNV0701033R
Rašević, M., K. Sedlecki 2011. „Pitanje postojanja abortusne kutlure u Srbiji”. Stanovništvo 49(1): 1– 17. https://doi.org/10.2298/SOC1603335D
Rid, K. 2007. Evropska konvencija o ljudskim pravima – Vodič za praktičare. Knjiga 1. Beograd: Beogradski centar za ljudska prava.
Sedlenieks, K. 2021. „ ‘Daughters Too Are Our Children.’ Gender Relations and Inheritance in Njeguši”. Comparative Southeast European Studies 69(1): 19-43. https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2021-2004
Simović, D. i S. Orlović 2023. Komentar Ustava Republike Srbije. Beograd: Službeni glasnik.
Stojanović, Z. 2012. Komentar Krivičnog zakonika. Beograd: Službeni glasnik.
Stojšić, J. 2010. „Pravna regulativa abortusa u Republici Srbiji (usklađenost sa evropskim standardima i praksom)”. Zbornik radova Pravnog fakulteta u Novom Sadu (1), 243–267.
Thomas, V. P. 2020. „Sex-Selective Abortions: The Prevalence in India and its Ramififications on Sex Traffifficking”. The Compass 7(1), 22–27.
UNFPA. 2012. Sex Imbalances at birth: Current trends, consequences and policy implications, https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pubpdf/
Sex%20Imbalances%20at%20Birth.%20PDF%20UNFPA%20APRO%20publication%202012.pdf (pristupljeno 19.02.2024. godine).
Vasić, R, M. Jovanović i M. Dajović, G. 2023. Uvod u pravo. Beograd: Univerzitet u Beogradu – Pravni fakultet.
Vukčević, M. 2021. Komentar Ustava Crne Gore. Podgorica: Udruženje pravnika Crne Gore.
Vuković, I. 2021. Krivično pravo – Opšti deo. Beograd: Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu.
Weiss, G. 1995. „Sex-Selective Abortion: A Relational Approach”. Hypatia 10(1): 202–217. https://doi.org/10.1177/146879680505429
Živanović, T. 1935. Osnovi krivičnog prava Kraljevine Jugoslavije – Opšti deo. Beograd: Štamparija „Gundulić”, M. Pešića i Druga – Dositejeva 3.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
ERIH PLUS - European Reference Index for the Humanities
World Cat
AnthroSerbia
