Late-term abortion after "positive" prenatal findings - an outline of the problem.
In: Sonderpädagogische Förderung heute: Aktuelle ethische Fragestellungen im Kontext von Behinderung.
No. 58 (2013), 2, pp. 153-170.

Formanski, Eva-Maria (September 2026):

"Turbulent Times" in the Context of Prenatal Diagnostics: Decision-Making Capacity and the Limits of Participation

Presentation at the 61st Conference of the Special Education Section of the German Society for Educational Science—Participation in Turbulent Times

Abstract: The discourse on “turbulent times” is currently centered primarily on global crises and processes of social transformation. This paper broadens this perspective and applies the concept to phases in the lives of pregnant women during which norms and expectations are called into question. In this context, “turbulent times” arise in the context of prenatal diagnostics, where knowledge increases but certainty about how to act does not.

Pregnancy thus shifts from a routine course to a decision-making space framed by institutional and medical structures, in which time constraints, prognostic knowledge, and limited opportunities for dialogue shape the range of possibilities.

This article is based on a qualitative-reconstructive research project drawing on narrative interviews with women who underwent a medically indicated termination of pregnancy between the 18th and 29th weeks of gestation, analyzed using the reflexive grounded theory research approach. The central question is how decision-making capacity is situationally established under conditions of uncertainty, time pressure, and structural constraints. Preliminary findings indicate that decisions cannot be understood as deliberative acts of choice but rather unfold as processes of consolidation in which crisis-ridden transitions, institutional frameworks, and relational constellations interact. Decision-making capacity arises, among other things, through moral condensations (e.g., avoidance of suffering), biographical interpretive frameworks, anticipated future scenarios, or pragmatic structuring impulses.

This paper addresses the question of how participation can be conceived under conditions in which spaces of possibility are structured even before they become socially visible, thereby challenging an understanding of participation that assumes openly available options for involvement.

The experience of women after a late-term abortion (in the second or third trimester of pregnancy) due to a medical indication

• Project management preliminary project, as well as scientific support of the model project "social space orientation" Caritas Förderzentrum St. Laurentius und Paulus, Caritasverband der Diözese Speyer (completed)
• Scientific advisor in the planning team of the Landau State Garden Show regarding barrier-free design
  (completed)
• Overall documentation of the symposium on the participation of people with disabilities - Rhineland-Palatinate regional association of Lebenshilfe (2006/08) (completed)

Qualification project

The experience of women after a late abortion (in the second or third trimester of pregnancy) due to a medical indication

Initial supervision: Prof. Dr. Florian Kiuppis

Main areas of teaching and research

• Ethical and anthropological issues in disability care
• Experiences of women after a late termination of pregnancy (medical indication) / post-abortion syndrome
• Biography work
• Family and disability
• Fields of action and tasks of disability assistance
• Social space development
• Professional research in social work
• Quality management in disability care
• Educational science

• BA LA FÖ 1.6 / MA EZW M.1.2: Ethical and anthropological foundations of special needs education
• BA EZW M. 5.1: Field of action and life-phase related practical project

• MA EZW M.6 : Research and practice module