Free abortion

TARGET GROUP: Upper secondary school and STX/HF

SUBJECTS: History, social studies, Danish & health and sex education

THE TEACHING MATERIAL CONTAINS:

    • Student-oriented podcast of 20 minutes about:
      • the right to abortion.
      • the path towards the right.
      • the importance and impact of the right on people.
    • A didactized and recorded source package that students can go straight to. The source package includes:
      • Curated sources from the interwar struggle for abortion rights.
      • Memoirs from women who had illegal abortions in the 1950s.
      • Curated graphics and posters from Frítt Val.
      • Contemporary submissions on the legitimacy of the right in the Constitution.
    • Teacher’s guide.
    • Extras for further immersion.

The right to free abortion

What is abortion rights? Who has the right to abortion? And how does the right or lack thereof affect people who are pregnant? These are some of the reflections and discussions that students will learn about in this didactized source package. Through active listening to the student-oriented podcast, students will be able to analyze selected didactic and digitized sources that focus on the historical and contemporary struggle for the right to abortion and the psychological, social, cultural and physical implications of the right or lack thereof. In the podcast, students meet three voices that put the fight for the right and the ethical considerations that come with it into a historical, contemporary and hypothetical future context. The podcast should be seen as a starting point for students to be able to analyze and work with the sources.

How to work with the source package

The material is based on socio-cultural didactics, where students reach new insights through collaboration and joint dialogues. The material contains work for two double lessons of 90 minutes each, but at the bottom of the material we have gathered additional perspectives and areas of immersion if you want to continue working on the fight for free abortion in Denmark or the Faroe Islands. In the teacher’s guide you will find our suggestions on how to facilitate your lessons based on the Flipped Learning method. We recommend that you give students time to dwell on the assignments and discussions, and we recommend a thorough dialogical plenary summary of the students’ source work.

Teacher guides + Link to student pages

Teacher's guide - Lower secondary school

In this teacher's guide, you can find translated learning objectives from the Common Academic Objectives, an introduction to the right to abortion, suggestions for structuring lessons, and possible perspectives and areas of specialization for the work.

Teacher's guide - STX/HF

In this teacher's guide you can find translated academic goals and core subject areas for STX and HF, an introduction to the right to abortion, suggestions for lesson structure and possible perspectives and areas of specialization for the work.

Student page - Secondary school

Find the teaching material for upper secondary school here.

Student page - STX/HF

Find the teaching material for STX/HF here.

Podcast about Abortion on Demand

You can learn more about the right to abortion by listening to the student podcast below. In the podcast you will meet:

  • Pia Fris Laneth, author and lecturer.
  • Johannes Gregers Jensen, Parish Priest at the Church of Our Lady.
  • Katrin S. Kamban, activist in Frítt Val – an activist group fighting for free abortion in the Faroe Islands.
  • Sarah Sander Laugesen, producer and curator at Museum Vestsjælland.
  • Amalie Stærke, teaching and project assistant at the Workers’ Museum.

Please note. Please note that the podcast was developed in January 2023 and that the parties Socialdemokratiet, Venstre, Moderaterne, SF, Radikale Venstre, Alternativet and Enhedslisten reached an agreement in May 2024 to raise the abortion limit from 12 to 18 weeks! The agreement will come into force from June 1, 2025. History is happening right now!

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE “

Sources for further immersion

If you want to work further with some of the perspectives brought up by the sources in the podcast: Free abortion, you can dive into a longer excerpt from the interview for the podcast than the format allowed for.

The source excerpts are also ideal for projects on: gender equality, women’s struggle, feminism, the Red Stockings, human rights and ethics.

Pia Fris Laneth – author and speaker

LISTEN HERE “

Johannes Gregers Jensen – Parish priest at Vor Frue Kirke

LISTEN HERE “

Katrin S. Kamban – activist in Frítt Val

LISTEN HERE “

Pia Fris Laneth – author and lecturer – about the Faroe Islands

LISTEN HERE “

The educational project is supported by: Kvinderådet, Kvindernes Bygnings Fond and BUPL

Graphics are produced by: Katrine Bælum

Podcast is produced by: Sarah Sander Laugesen