Session 3:

Abolish Carceral Affects

Wednesday 14 April 2021 ~ 8:10 - 9:25pm Pacific

CANCELED

A feminist abolitionist nursing ethics

Martha Paynter, Leah Carrier, and Keisha Jefferies

The twinned crises of COVID-19 outbreaks in prison and jails, and racist, lethal police violence in spring 2020 briefly normalized public conversations about defunding police and abolishing prison systems in Canada and the United States. Shaped by gender bias, racism, and class oppression, policing and incarceration cumulate in poorer individual health outcomes, family disintegration, and threats to community and public health that are disproportionately experienced by groups of people already marginalized. We argue the realities of policing and prison operations conflict with nursing ethics, and nursing ethics require us to push beyond calls for reform to demand and participate in abolition. Abolitionism is a theory and a practice of creative and compassionate responses to social harms including releasing people who are incarcerated; reducing the budgets of police, prisons and the military; decriminalizing substance use, sex work and poverty; and ensuring equitable access to housing, food, economic security, and health care. Abolitionist nursing confronts nursing’s engagement with white supremacy and carceral systems to act against the political roots of social oppression. To describe a feminist abolitionist nursing ethics, our presentation has five sections. Firstly, we explain the colonial, racist origins of policing. Secondly, we outline how the lived realities of people in prison substantiate the urgent need for abolition to address health inequities and human rights abuses. Thirdly, we discuss nursing’s historical failure to engage in political advocacy. Fourthly, we critique reformism and explain political and ethical concepts foundational to abolitionist nursing. Finally, we consider how to operationalize abolition in nursing policy, research, and practice.

Martha Paynter is a registered nurse providing abortion and postpartum care. She is a Doctoral Candidate in Nursing at Dalhousie University. She is the founder and coordinator of Wellness Within, a non-profit organization supporting criminalized women and transgender/nonbinary individuals in the perinatal period in carceral institutions and the community. She works to advance reproductive justice through advocacy, collaboration and nursing scholarship.

Leah Carrier is a Niitsítapi registered nurse and doctoral student at Dalhousie University. She is a research trainee at the IWK Health Centre, working with the Aboriginal Children’s Hurt and Healing Initiative on projects related to chronic pain and mental health in Indigenous children and youth. Her doctoral research is grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing and uses a Two-Eyed Seeing approach. Her project uses Indigenous Storywork methodology to explore the experiences of Indigenous nurses in the context of nursing education.

Keisha Jefferies is a Toronto-based African Nova Scotian woman, born and raised in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. She is a registered nurse and PhD candidate in the School of Nursing at Dalhousie University. Her research examines the leadership experiences of African Nova Scotian nurses and the implications for nursing practice and education. Her scholarly and advocacy work focus on addressing anti-Black racism in nursing, equitable admissions in post-secondary institutions and social justice at large.