Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses upon the legal frameworks around abortion in all some countries. It presents a series of case studies for abortion, women's shelters and hospitals. The book focuses on the landscapes of access for some countries as well as a discussion around security and how security can be used as a space of potential. It describes thinking through the ways the research can have potential effects for these contested terrains. The book explores explicit political, cultural and social influences. Anthropology defines design as spatialized cultural ideas reflecting cultural ordering and operating as a communication system. Cultural and social ideas become embedded at a variety of scales including the domestic, the institution and the city. All spatial relationships reflect sociopolitical, economic, and cultural changes.