Jennifer Nelson
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814762776
- eISBN:
- 9780814770894
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814762776.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This concluding chapter details the creation of a reproductive justice movement among women of color. Critical of the dominant abortion rights discourse about reproductive “choice,” they used human ...
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This concluding chapter details the creation of a reproductive justice movement among women of color. Critical of the dominant abortion rights discourse about reproductive “choice,” they used human rights as their frame for building a movement that focused on transforming the broad social and economic context that they believed was fundamental to achieving reproductive justice for all women. Distancing themselves from a medical model of health care activism, women of color feminists like Loretta Ross, Dázon Dixon Diallo, and Luz Rodriguez argued that fundamental needs—ending poverty, gaining access to jobs and quality housing, and acquiring education—all needed to be met in order to guarantee reproductive justice. Since poor women and women of color had the most trouble satisfying these most basic needs, they suffered compromised reproductive health and control over their reproductive choices.Less
This concluding chapter details the creation of a reproductive justice movement among women of color. Critical of the dominant abortion rights discourse about reproductive “choice,” they used human rights as their frame for building a movement that focused on transforming the broad social and economic context that they believed was fundamental to achieving reproductive justice for all women. Distancing themselves from a medical model of health care activism, women of color feminists like Loretta Ross, Dázon Dixon Diallo, and Luz Rodriguez argued that fundamental needs—ending poverty, gaining access to jobs and quality housing, and acquiring education—all needed to be met in order to guarantee reproductive justice. Since poor women and women of color had the most trouble satisfying these most basic needs, they suffered compromised reproductive health and control over their reproductive choices.
Jade S. Sasser
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781479873432
- eISBN:
- 9781479860142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479873432.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
Chapter 5 investigates the opportunistic ways that mainstream reproductive health NGOs draw on the language of reproductive justice to frame population advocacy as socially progressive. At the same ...
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Chapter 5 investigates the opportunistic ways that mainstream reproductive health NGOs draw on the language of reproductive justice to frame population advocacy as socially progressive. At the same time, they obscure the intersectional politics that structure the reproductive justice movement’s history and current work. The chapter analyzes the experiences of population advocates of color as they navigate the thorniness and complexity of reproductive justice (RJ) language and frameworks in an advocacy movement that has historically threatened RJ goals. I chart the changing role of racial politics in population-environment advocacy over time, tracing the ways race has moved from being a zone of heated controversy to providing an opening for new representational strategies such as reproductive and “population justice”—despite deep ambivalence toward justice frameworks and activists.Less
Chapter 5 investigates the opportunistic ways that mainstream reproductive health NGOs draw on the language of reproductive justice to frame population advocacy as socially progressive. At the same time, they obscure the intersectional politics that structure the reproductive justice movement’s history and current work. The chapter analyzes the experiences of population advocates of color as they navigate the thorniness and complexity of reproductive justice (RJ) language and frameworks in an advocacy movement that has historically threatened RJ goals. I chart the changing role of racial politics in population-environment advocacy over time, tracing the ways race has moved from being a zone of heated controversy to providing an opening for new representational strategies such as reproductive and “population justice”—despite deep ambivalence toward justice frameworks and activists.
Fiona Bloomer, Claire Pierson, and Sylvia Estrada Claudio
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447340430
- eISBN:
- 9781447340485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447340430.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
In Chapter 7, the development of the Reproductive Justice Framework and its international application is analysed, alongside consideration of the terminology of reproductive justice and how its use ...
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In Chapter 7, the development of the Reproductive Justice Framework and its international application is analysed, alongside consideration of the terminology of reproductive justice and how its use is impacted by different societal contexts. A consideration of the choice framework is offered. The case study of RESURJ, an international organisation of young feminists working in the Global South, provides insight into how movements can work at grassroots and international levels, promoting the values of reproductive justice in order to improve the lives of those most affected by oppressive laws and policies. The chapter further considers how reproductive justice can shine a light on countries with multiple reproductive oppressions. The chapter concludes by considering a recent development in the theoretical framework of Reparative Reproductive Justice.Less
In Chapter 7, the development of the Reproductive Justice Framework and its international application is analysed, alongside consideration of the terminology of reproductive justice and how its use is impacted by different societal contexts. A consideration of the choice framework is offered. The case study of RESURJ, an international organisation of young feminists working in the Global South, provides insight into how movements can work at grassroots and international levels, promoting the values of reproductive justice in order to improve the lives of those most affected by oppressive laws and policies. The chapter further considers how reproductive justice can shine a light on countries with multiple reproductive oppressions. The chapter concludes by considering a recent development in the theoretical framework of Reparative Reproductive Justice.
Miranda R. Waggoner
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520288065
- eISBN:
- 9780520963115
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520288065.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This chapter reflects on the state of women’s health care and the policy that undergirds the contemporary vibrancy of the pre-pregnancy care framework. It explains why pre-pregnancy care was ...
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This chapter reflects on the state of women’s health care and the policy that undergirds the contemporary vibrancy of the pre-pregnancy care framework. It explains why pre-pregnancy care was initially met with opposing interpretations about its vision and potential efficacy. Analyzing interview data in conjunction with historical materials, this chapter shows that pre-pregnancy care was, in part, created to advance reproductive justice by bridging the long-divided realms of maternal care and reproductive care. By traversing the boundaries of entrenched reproductive silos, the pre-pregnancy care model expanded health care during women’s reproductive years—an outcome that seemingly served progressive goals. However, the idea of couching women’s health in terms of their maternity status followed a long tradition of maternalism in American policymaking, further entangling motherhood and womanhood.Less
This chapter reflects on the state of women’s health care and the policy that undergirds the contemporary vibrancy of the pre-pregnancy care framework. It explains why pre-pregnancy care was initially met with opposing interpretations about its vision and potential efficacy. Analyzing interview data in conjunction with historical materials, this chapter shows that pre-pregnancy care was, in part, created to advance reproductive justice by bridging the long-divided realms of maternal care and reproductive care. By traversing the boundaries of entrenched reproductive silos, the pre-pregnancy care model expanded health care during women’s reproductive years—an outcome that seemingly served progressive goals. However, the idea of couching women’s health in terms of their maternity status followed a long tradition of maternalism in American policymaking, further entangling motherhood and womanhood.
Joan McCarthy
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719099465
- eISBN:
- 9781526104410
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719099465.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This chapter offers a feminist reading of two Irish cases that raise important ethical and legal concerns: the unnecessary peripartum hysterectomies at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda and the ...
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This chapter offers a feminist reading of two Irish cases that raise important ethical and legal concerns: the unnecessary peripartum hysterectomies at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda and the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar in October 2012. Key to this feminist analysis is a desire to understand the mechanisms by which the voices and concerns of the women at the centre of these cases were ignored, marginalised and trivialised. The chapter addresses the cultural dis-ease with women’s bodies and reproductive autonomy and the excess of epistemic and moral authority vested in doctors and religious leaders and the correlated lack of authority invested in women patients and midwives.Less
This chapter offers a feminist reading of two Irish cases that raise important ethical and legal concerns: the unnecessary peripartum hysterectomies at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda and the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar in October 2012. Key to this feminist analysis is a desire to understand the mechanisms by which the voices and concerns of the women at the centre of these cases were ignored, marginalised and trivialised. The chapter addresses the cultural dis-ease with women’s bodies and reproductive autonomy and the excess of epistemic and moral authority vested in doctors and religious leaders and the correlated lack of authority invested in women patients and midwives.
Laury Oaks
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479897926
- eISBN:
- 9781479883073
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479897926.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, American and Canadian Cultural Anthropology
This book explores the social politics of legal infant abandonment in advocacy and media discourses surrounding safe haven laws, which allow a parent to relinquish a newborn legally and anonymously ...
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This book explores the social politics of legal infant abandonment in advocacy and media discourses surrounding safe haven laws, which allow a parent to relinquish a newborn legally and anonymously at a specified institutional location such as a hospital or fire station. More specifically, it considers the social constructions of motherhood perpetuated by safe haven advocates as well as the social injustices that compel infant abandonment. Using a feminist framework, the book offers insights into the contested nature of what defines good and bad motherhood and examines the issues that surround unsafe infant abandonment from a reproductive justice perspective, with particular emphasis on abortion and adoption politics. This introduction discusses critical perspectives on why we do not need safe haven laws, the cultural components of wanted and unwanted motherhood, and assumptions about maternal love, infant abandonment, adoption, and infanticide. It also provides an overview of the chapters in this book.Less
This book explores the social politics of legal infant abandonment in advocacy and media discourses surrounding safe haven laws, which allow a parent to relinquish a newborn legally and anonymously at a specified institutional location such as a hospital or fire station. More specifically, it considers the social constructions of motherhood perpetuated by safe haven advocates as well as the social injustices that compel infant abandonment. Using a feminist framework, the book offers insights into the contested nature of what defines good and bad motherhood and examines the issues that surround unsafe infant abandonment from a reproductive justice perspective, with particular emphasis on abortion and adoption politics. This introduction discusses critical perspectives on why we do not need safe haven laws, the cultural components of wanted and unwanted motherhood, and assumptions about maternal love, infant abandonment, adoption, and infanticide. It also provides an overview of the chapters in this book.
Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252042355
- eISBN:
- 9780252051197
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042355.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
Taking recent immigration policies related to pregnancy and motherhood as its point of departure, the conclusion considers the implications of homeland maternity and examines potential modes of ...
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Taking recent immigration policies related to pregnancy and motherhood as its point of departure, the conclusion considers the implications of homeland maternity and examines potential modes of resistance to it. Resistance might include strategies of co-optation, subversion, and other modes of rhetorical invention and reinvention. In an age of homeland maternity, this would imply, for example, challenges to the cult of intensive mothering, resistance to the surveillance and control of pregnancy and childbirth, novel forms of community organizing and alliance, and more capacious imaginings of motherhood, family, and kin. This final chapter highlights and develops emerging channels of challenge and transformation, to edge us toward the promise of reproductive justice, beginning with the very words we speak.Less
Taking recent immigration policies related to pregnancy and motherhood as its point of departure, the conclusion considers the implications of homeland maternity and examines potential modes of resistance to it. Resistance might include strategies of co-optation, subversion, and other modes of rhetorical invention and reinvention. In an age of homeland maternity, this would imply, for example, challenges to the cult of intensive mothering, resistance to the surveillance and control of pregnancy and childbirth, novel forms of community organizing and alliance, and more capacious imaginings of motherhood, family, and kin. This final chapter highlights and develops emerging channels of challenge and transformation, to edge us toward the promise of reproductive justice, beginning with the very words we speak.
Jennifer M. Denbow
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479828838
- eISBN:
- 9781479808977
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479828838.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Chapter 5 revisits many of the themes of the book and investigates their broader import and applicability, exploring the ways in which notions of privacy and the public sphere are wielded in ...
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Chapter 5 revisits many of the themes of the book and investigates their broader import and applicability, exploring the ways in which notions of privacy and the public sphere are wielded in reproductive regulations. Arguing that women’s bodies are sometimes presented as public spaces and are at other times privatized, it shows that these representations are connected to common understandings of autonomy. Another topic explored herein is how autonomy as critique and transformation could be used to promote reproductive justice projects. Chapter 5 also provides an overview of how each of the policy areas the book investigates would benefit from an approach anchored in the tradition of autonomy as critique and transformation. This overview is combined with a consideration of the limitations and potential of legal change and, in conclusion, an examination of the links between cyborg theory and transformative autonomy. The chapter argues that cyborg theory draws needed attention to the critical and transformative possibilities of non-reproductive technologies that play a crucial role in the management of reproduction.Less
Chapter 5 revisits many of the themes of the book and investigates their broader import and applicability, exploring the ways in which notions of privacy and the public sphere are wielded in reproductive regulations. Arguing that women’s bodies are sometimes presented as public spaces and are at other times privatized, it shows that these representations are connected to common understandings of autonomy. Another topic explored herein is how autonomy as critique and transformation could be used to promote reproductive justice projects. Chapter 5 also provides an overview of how each of the policy areas the book investigates would benefit from an approach anchored in the tradition of autonomy as critique and transformation. This overview is combined with a consideration of the limitations and potential of legal change and, in conclusion, an examination of the links between cyborg theory and transformative autonomy. The chapter argues that cyborg theory draws needed attention to the critical and transformative possibilities of non-reproductive technologies that play a crucial role in the management of reproduction.
Michael Gill
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816682973
- eISBN:
- 9781452950679
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816682973.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Ethical Issues and Debates
This chapter explores the ways in which reproductive capabilities of women with intellectual disabilities are understood and represented while remaining mindful of the discourses of control lodged at ...
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This chapter explores the ways in which reproductive capabilities of women with intellectual disabilities are understood and represented while remaining mindful of the discourses of control lodged at a multiplicity of women’s bodies. In addition, the coalitional potential between reproductive justice and disability rights is discussed.Less
This chapter explores the ways in which reproductive capabilities of women with intellectual disabilities are understood and represented while remaining mindful of the discourses of control lodged at a multiplicity of women’s bodies. In addition, the coalitional potential between reproductive justice and disability rights is discussed.
Laury Oaks
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479897926
- eISBN:
- 9781479883073
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479897926.003.0006
- Subject:
- Anthropology, American and Canadian Cultural Anthropology
This conclusion summarizes the book's argument regarding safe haven laws and the discourses that support them within the context of reproductive justice, with particular emphasis on the complexities ...
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This conclusion summarizes the book's argument regarding safe haven laws and the discourses that support them within the context of reproductive justice, with particular emphasis on the complexities of pregnancy and motherhood experiences as well as the unequal social support available to women and girls. It considers the voices of safe haven moms who have expressed their experiences of relinquishing a newborn at a safe haven site to show how safe haven laws, portrayed by their advocates as offering a good choice for mothers, contribute to public policies and social attitudes concerning mothers and motherhood. It argues that the stated intent of safe haven laws —saving babies—conceals the social injustices that force some women and girls to relinquish their newborns.Less
This conclusion summarizes the book's argument regarding safe haven laws and the discourses that support them within the context of reproductive justice, with particular emphasis on the complexities of pregnancy and motherhood experiences as well as the unequal social support available to women and girls. It considers the voices of safe haven moms who have expressed their experiences of relinquishing a newborn at a safe haven site to show how safe haven laws, portrayed by their advocates as offering a good choice for mothers, contribute to public policies and social attitudes concerning mothers and motherhood. It argues that the stated intent of safe haven laws —saving babies—conceals the social injustices that force some women and girls to relinquish their newborns.
Suzanne E. Joseph
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813044613
- eISBN:
- 9780813046389
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813044613.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This chapter provides an overview of the relevant demographic literature and introduces the people, setting, and methodology. In order to broaden our understanding of inequality, the chapter ...
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This chapter provides an overview of the relevant demographic literature and introduces the people, setting, and methodology. In order to broaden our understanding of inequality, the chapter emphasizes the need to bring together research from sociocultural and biological subfields of anthropology and focus on the reproductive and health experiences of nomadic groups like the Bekaa Bedouin.Less
This chapter provides an overview of the relevant demographic literature and introduces the people, setting, and methodology. In order to broaden our understanding of inequality, the chapter emphasizes the need to bring together research from sociocultural and biological subfields of anthropology and focus on the reproductive and health experiences of nomadic groups like the Bekaa Bedouin.
Noelle Paley and Joshua Price
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520252493
- eISBN:
- 9780520944565
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520252493.003.0085
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
The criminal justice system can interrupt the reproductive lives of poor women of color and poor white women in many different ways; separate them from their offspring and their loved ones; and tear ...
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The criminal justice system can interrupt the reproductive lives of poor women of color and poor white women in many different ways; separate them from their offspring and their loved ones; and tear these women and their communities asunder. These interruptions are acts of violence in opposition to any standard of reproductive justice. The fact is, assaults on sources of community support for women of color when they come out of jail, on their reproductive processes and their child rearing, are orchestrated by institutional systems such as welfare-to-work mandates, social services, child protective services, the schools, hospitals, battered women's shelters, and the structure of child care itself. State policies and social practices compound these violent assaults or interruptions. The Broome County Jail Project follows former women prisoners, with the goal of determining the full range of assaults on women's reproductive and maternal lives, spearheaded by the foster care, educational, and juvenile justice systems.Less
The criminal justice system can interrupt the reproductive lives of poor women of color and poor white women in many different ways; separate them from their offspring and their loved ones; and tear these women and their communities asunder. These interruptions are acts of violence in opposition to any standard of reproductive justice. The fact is, assaults on sources of community support for women of color when they come out of jail, on their reproductive processes and their child rearing, are orchestrated by institutional systems such as welfare-to-work mandates, social services, child protective services, the schools, hospitals, battered women's shelters, and the structure of child care itself. State policies and social practices compound these violent assaults or interruptions. The Broome County Jail Project follows former women prisoners, with the goal of determining the full range of assaults on women's reproductive and maternal lives, spearheaded by the foster care, educational, and juvenile justice systems.
Fiona Bloomer, Claire Pierson, and Sylvia Estrada Claudio
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447340430
- eISBN:
- 9781447340485
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447340430.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
What are the contemporary issues in abortion politics globally? What factors explain variations in access to abortion between and within different countries? This text provides a transnationally ...
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What are the contemporary issues in abortion politics globally? What factors explain variations in access to abortion between and within different countries? This text provides a transnationally focused, interdisciplinary analysis of trends in abortion politics using case studies from around the global north and south. It considers how societal influences, such as religion, nationalism and culture, impact abortion law and access. It explores the impact of international human rights norms, the increasing displacement of people due to conflict and crisis and the role of activists on law reform and access. The book concludes by considering the future of abortion politics through the more holistic lens of reproductive justice. Utilising a unique interdisciplinary approach, this book provides a major contribution to the knowledge base on abortion politics globally. It provides an accessible, informative and engaging text for academics, policy makers and readers interested in abortion politics.Less
What are the contemporary issues in abortion politics globally? What factors explain variations in access to abortion between and within different countries? This text provides a transnationally focused, interdisciplinary analysis of trends in abortion politics using case studies from around the global north and south. It considers how societal influences, such as religion, nationalism and culture, impact abortion law and access. It explores the impact of international human rights norms, the increasing displacement of people due to conflict and crisis and the role of activists on law reform and access. The book concludes by considering the future of abortion politics through the more holistic lens of reproductive justice. Utilising a unique interdisciplinary approach, this book provides a major contribution to the knowledge base on abortion politics globally. It provides an accessible, informative and engaging text for academics, policy makers and readers interested in abortion politics.
Johanna Schoen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469621180
- eISBN:
- 9781469623344
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469621180.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
Abortion is—and always has been—an arena for contesting power relations between women and men. When in 1973 the Supreme Court made the procedure legal throughout the United States, it seemed that ...
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Abortion is—and always has been—an arena for contesting power relations between women and men. When in 1973 the Supreme Court made the procedure legal throughout the United States, it seemed that women were at last able to make decisions about their own bodies. In the four decades that followed, however, abortion became ever more politicized and stigmatized. Abortion after Roe chronicles and analyzes what the new legal status and changing political environment have meant for abortion providers and their patients. This book sheds light on the little-studied experience of performing and receiving abortion care from the 1970s—a period of optimism—to the rise of the antiabortion movement and the escalation of antiabortion tactics in the 1980s to the 1990s and beyond, when violent attacks on clinics and abortion providers led to a new articulation of abortion care as moral work. More than four decades after the legalization of abortion, the abortion provider community has powerfully asserted that abortion care is a moral good.Less
Abortion is—and always has been—an arena for contesting power relations between women and men. When in 1973 the Supreme Court made the procedure legal throughout the United States, it seemed that women were at last able to make decisions about their own bodies. In the four decades that followed, however, abortion became ever more politicized and stigmatized. Abortion after Roe chronicles and analyzes what the new legal status and changing political environment have meant for abortion providers and their patients. This book sheds light on the little-studied experience of performing and receiving abortion care from the 1970s—a period of optimism—to the rise of the antiabortion movement and the escalation of antiabortion tactics in the 1980s to the 1990s and beyond, when violent attacks on clinics and abortion providers led to a new articulation of abortion care as moral work. More than four decades after the legalization of abortion, the abortion provider community has powerfully asserted that abortion care is a moral good.
Michael Gill
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816682973
- eISBN:
- 9781452950679
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816682973.003.0009
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Ethical Issues and Debates
When we assume to know what is best for others, this knowledge can often actively hide or deny individual sexual self-determination. The challenge is to continue to forward sexual pleasure and desire ...
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When we assume to know what is best for others, this knowledge can often actively hide or deny individual sexual self-determination. The challenge is to continue to forward sexual pleasure and desire in sex education materials, to continue partnerships with disability justice and reproductive justice, to advocate for and believe in coalitions that enable equitable and accessible futures.Less
When we assume to know what is best for others, this knowledge can often actively hide or deny individual sexual self-determination. The challenge is to continue to forward sexual pleasure and desire in sex education materials, to continue partnerships with disability justice and reproductive justice, to advocate for and believe in coalitions that enable equitable and accessible futures.
Susanne M. Klausen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199844494
- eISBN:
- 9780190258122
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199844494.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
The conclusion explains how progressive abortion law reform took place in South Africa after the downfall of apartheid. When the demise of apartheid appeared inevitable, feminists in the African ...
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The conclusion explains how progressive abortion law reform took place in South Africa after the downfall of apartheid. When the demise of apartheid appeared inevitable, feminists in the African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League and civil society worked strategically to win recognition for women’s reproductive rights. They ultimately succeeded in having the newly elected ANC government pass one of the world’s most progressive abortion laws, the 1996 Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, which allows for abortion on demand without restriction as to reason but with gestational limits. The new law had an immediate positive effect: the annual number of abortion-related deaths soon fell dramatically. Yet today unsafe abortion continues to be a serious problem in South Africa, and the conclusion ends by examining the systemic reasons for this and the ongoing need for women’s liberation and reproductive justice.Less
The conclusion explains how progressive abortion law reform took place in South Africa after the downfall of apartheid. When the demise of apartheid appeared inevitable, feminists in the African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League and civil society worked strategically to win recognition for women’s reproductive rights. They ultimately succeeded in having the newly elected ANC government pass one of the world’s most progressive abortion laws, the 1996 Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, which allows for abortion on demand without restriction as to reason but with gestational limits. The new law had an immediate positive effect: the annual number of abortion-related deaths soon fell dramatically. Yet today unsafe abortion continues to be a serious problem in South Africa, and the conclusion ends by examining the systemic reasons for this and the ongoing need for women’s liberation and reproductive justice.
Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252042355
- eISBN:
- 9780252051197
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252042355.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
Motherhood in the context of homeland security culture is a site of intense contestation—both a powerful form of currency and a target of unprecedented assault. In this book, I designate the term ...
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Motherhood in the context of homeland security culture is a site of intense contestation—both a powerful form of currency and a target of unprecedented assault. In this book, I designate the term homeland maternity in order to theorize the relationship between motherhood and nation in US homeland security culture. While scholars of rhetoric, feminist, and cultural studies have explored homeland security culture and the politics of contemporary motherhood from critical perspectives, no study to date has considered how recent discourses of motherhood and nation are deeply enmeshed and, as this book argues, mutually constitutive. As reproductive bodies are represented as a threat to national security, either through supposed excess or deficiency, a culture of homeland maternity intensifies the requirements of motherhood as it works to discipline those who refuse to adhere. Homeland Maternity offers a way to understand how the policing of maternal bodies in contemporary US culture serves an overt but unexamined political function—namely, securing the nation in times of perceived vulnerability, and with profound implications for reproductive justice.Less
Motherhood in the context of homeland security culture is a site of intense contestation—both a powerful form of currency and a target of unprecedented assault. In this book, I designate the term homeland maternity in order to theorize the relationship between motherhood and nation in US homeland security culture. While scholars of rhetoric, feminist, and cultural studies have explored homeland security culture and the politics of contemporary motherhood from critical perspectives, no study to date has considered how recent discourses of motherhood and nation are deeply enmeshed and, as this book argues, mutually constitutive. As reproductive bodies are represented as a threat to national security, either through supposed excess or deficiency, a culture of homeland maternity intensifies the requirements of motherhood as it works to discipline those who refuse to adhere. Homeland Maternity offers a way to understand how the policing of maternal bodies in contemporary US culture serves an overt but unexamined political function—namely, securing the nation in times of perceived vulnerability, and with profound implications for reproductive justice.
Michael Gill
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816682973
- eISBN:
- 9781452950679
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816682973.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Ethical Issues and Debates
This chapter investigates a recent court case in Illinois where a young adult woman with an intellectual disability petitioned the court to stop an involuntary sterilization procedure. The court ...
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This chapter investigates a recent court case in Illinois where a young adult woman with an intellectual disability petitioned the court to stop an involuntary sterilization procedure. The court ruled that permanent sterilization would cause psychological damage to the young woman even though the court was convinced she did not have the capacity to parent. Activists emboldened by the court case petitioned the State Legislature and Governor to pass a law preventing involuntary sterilization.Less
This chapter investigates a recent court case in Illinois where a young adult woman with an intellectual disability petitioned the court to stop an involuntary sterilization procedure. The court ruled that permanent sterilization would cause psychological damage to the young woman even though the court was convinced she did not have the capacity to parent. Activists emboldened by the court case petitioned the State Legislature and Governor to pass a law preventing involuntary sterilization.
Deborah L. Rhode
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199348275
- eISBN:
- 9780190252410
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199348275.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter explores issues of reproductive justice and economic security in relation to gender equality and human flourishing. More specifically, it considers abortion and adolescent pregnancy, ...
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This chapter explores issues of reproductive justice and economic security in relation to gender equality and human flourishing. More specifically, it considers abortion and adolescent pregnancy, along with the reasons behind the inadequate access to birth control information and services. The discussion begins by looking at the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the 1973 case Roe v. Wade regarding a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy. The chapter then looks at the rise of anti-abortion activism in America; the sanctions imposed on pregnant women for drug and alcohol use, especially low-income women of color; the issue of women’s right to contraceptives; and Social Security for women. Finally, it examines poverty and how the inadequate safety net keeps many women trapped in violent relationships.Less
This chapter explores issues of reproductive justice and economic security in relation to gender equality and human flourishing. More specifically, it considers abortion and adolescent pregnancy, along with the reasons behind the inadequate access to birth control information and services. The discussion begins by looking at the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the 1973 case Roe v. Wade regarding a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy. The chapter then looks at the rise of anti-abortion activism in America; the sanctions imposed on pregnant women for drug and alcohol use, especially low-income women of color; the issue of women’s right to contraceptives; and Social Security for women. Finally, it examines poverty and how the inadequate safety net keeps many women trapped in violent relationships.
Michael Gill
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816682973
- eISBN:
- 9781452950679
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816682973.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Ethical Issues and Debates
Tracing the history of efforts in the United States to limit the sexual freedoms of such persons, using methods such as forced sterilization, invasive birth control, and gender-segregated living ...
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Tracing the history of efforts in the United States to limit the sexual freedoms of such persons, using methods such as forced sterilization, invasive birth control, and gender-segregated living arrangements, Michael Gill demonstrates that these widespread practices stemmed from dominant views of disabled sexuality, not least the notion that intellectually disabled women are excessively sexual and fertile while their male counterparts are sexually predatory. Analyzing legal discourses, sex education materials, and news stories going back to the 1970s, Gill shows, for example, that the intense focus on “stranger danger” in sex education for intellectually disabled individuals disregards their ability to independently choose activities and sexual partners, including nonheterosexual ones, which are frequently treated with heightened suspicion. He also examines ethical issues surrounding masturbation training that aims to regulate individuals’ sexual lives, challenges the perception that those whose sexuality is controlled (or rejected) should not reproduce, and proposes recognition of the right to become parents for adults with intellectual disabilities. A powerfully argued call for sexual and reproductive justice for people with intellectual disabilities, Already Doing It urges a shift away from the compulsion to manage “deviance” (better known today as harm reduction) because the right to pleasure and intellectual disability are not mutually exclusive. In so doing, it represents a vital new contribution to the ongoing debate over who, in the United States, should be allowed to have sex, reproduce, marry, and raise children.Less
Tracing the history of efforts in the United States to limit the sexual freedoms of such persons, using methods such as forced sterilization, invasive birth control, and gender-segregated living arrangements, Michael Gill demonstrates that these widespread practices stemmed from dominant views of disabled sexuality, not least the notion that intellectually disabled women are excessively sexual and fertile while their male counterparts are sexually predatory. Analyzing legal discourses, sex education materials, and news stories going back to the 1970s, Gill shows, for example, that the intense focus on “stranger danger” in sex education for intellectually disabled individuals disregards their ability to independently choose activities and sexual partners, including nonheterosexual ones, which are frequently treated with heightened suspicion. He also examines ethical issues surrounding masturbation training that aims to regulate individuals’ sexual lives, challenges the perception that those whose sexuality is controlled (or rejected) should not reproduce, and proposes recognition of the right to become parents for adults with intellectual disabilities. A powerfully argued call for sexual and reproductive justice for people with intellectual disabilities, Already Doing It urges a shift away from the compulsion to manage “deviance” (better known today as harm reduction) because the right to pleasure and intellectual disability are not mutually exclusive. In so doing, it represents a vital new contribution to the ongoing debate over who, in the United States, should be allowed to have sex, reproduce, marry, and raise children.
