The Reproductive Rights Reader

by Ehrenreich, Nancy

• ISBN13: 9780814722312
• ISBN10: 0814722318
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-01
• Publisher: Ingram Pub Services

Summary

Since the passage ofRoe v. Wade, the debate over reproductive rights has dominated America's courts, legislatures, and streets. The contributors toThe Reproductive Rights Readerembrace reproductive justice for all women, but challenge mainstream legal and political solutions based on protecting free choice via neutral governmental policies, which frequently ignore or jeopardize the interests of women of color and the poor. Instead, the pieces in this interdisciplinary book -- including both legal cases and articles by legal scholars, historians, sociologists, political scientists and others -- favor a critical analysis that addresses the concrete material conditions that limit choices, the role of law and social policy in creating those conditions, and the gendered power dynamics that inform and are reinforced by the regulation of human reproduction.The selections demonstrate that the right to choice isn't an automatic guarantee of reproductive justice and gender equality; to truly achieve this ideal it is essential to recognize the complexity of women's reproductive experiences and needs. Divided into four sections, the book examines feminist critiques of medical knowledge and practice; and the legal regulation of pregnancy termination, conception and child-bearing, and behavior during pregnancy.

Table of Contents

A Note from the Editor	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Questioning Science: Feminist Critiques of Medical Knowledge and Practice
Introduction to Part I	p. 23
The Sexual Politics of Sickness	p. 24
Delusions in Discourse	p. 32
Body Narratives, Body Boundaries	p. 42
"Cultural Practice" or "Reconstructive Surgery"? U.S. Genital Cutting, the Intersex Movement, and Medical Double Standards	p. 47
Questions and Comments	p. 57
Forced Motherhood? Legal Regulation of Pregnancy Termination
Abortion: The Legal Framework
Introduction to Part II(A)	p. 63
Social and Historical Context
Medicine and Morality in the Nineteenth Century	p. 69
When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867-1973	p. 78
Racism, Birth Control, and Reproductive Rights	p. 86
Questions and Comments	p. 94
The "Privacy" Formulation and Its Critics
Roe V. Wade	p. 99
Beyond "A Woman's Right to Choose": Feminist Ideas about Reproductive Rights	p. 106
Harris v. McRae	p. 111
Surrogacy as Resistance? The Misplaced Focus on Choice in the Surrogacy and Abortion Funding Contexts	p. 116
Questions and Comments	p. 123
The "Undue Burden" Test
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey	p. 127
Brief Amici Curiae of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., et al., Submitted in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services	p. 137
Questions and Comments	p. 143
The Equality Approach
Abortion as a Sex Equality Right: Its Basis in Feminist Theory	p. 147
Brief Amici Curiae of 274 Organizations in Support of Roe v. Wade, Submitted in Turnock v. Ragsdale	p. 161
Questions and Comments	p. 164
Abortion: Special Topics
Introduction to Part II(B)	p. 169
Late-Term Abortion
Stenberg v. Carhart	p. 173
Crossing the Line: The Political and Moral Battle over Late-Term Abortion	p. 180
Gonzales v. Carhart	p. 190
Questions and Comments	p. 198
Minors' Access to Abortion
Politics and Pregnancy: Adolescent Mothers and Public Policy	p. 201
Sex Education: Politicians, Parents, Teachers, and Teens and Understanding "Abstinence": Implications for Individuals, Programs, and Policies	p. 210
Questions and Comments	p. 220
Wrongful Birth and Selective Abortion
Not Your Garden Variety Tort Reform: Statutes Barring Claims for Wrongful Life and Wrongful Birth Are Unconstitutional under the Purpose Prong of Planned Parenthood v. Casey	p. 223
Disability Rights and Selective Abortion	p. 231
Reproductive Rights of Women in Prison
Searching for the State: Who Governs Prisoners' Reproductive Rights?	p. 243
Questions and Comments	p. 253
Motherhood Denied: Legal Regulation of Conception
Introduction to Part III	p. 257
Punitive Policies: Regulation of Conception by Low-Income Women and Women of Color
Racializing the Nation: From the Declaration of Independence to the Emancipation Proclamation, 1776-1865	p. 261
The Social Meaning of the Norplant Condition: Constitutional Considerations of Race, Class, and Gender	p. 275
The Ideology of Division: Behavior Modification Welfare Reform Proposals	p. 288
Questions and Comments	p. 296
Assisted Reproduction: Regulation of "Surrogacy" and Cloning
What's Wrong with a Parenthood Market? A New and Improved Theory of Commodification	p. 299
Race and the New Reproduction	p. 308
Is There a Right to Clone? Constitutional Challenges to Bans on Human Cloning	p. 320
Questions and Comments	p. 331
The Disciplining of Mothers-to-Be: Legal Regulation of Behavior during Pregnancy
Introduction to Part IV	p. 335
Pregnancy and Fertility Discrimination in the Workplace
Troupe v. May Department Stores Co.	p. 339
Pregnancy, Parenting, and Capitalism	p. 343
Sapphire Bound!	p. 350
Questions and Comments	p. 360
Tort and Criminal Liability for Prenatal Behavior
Stallman v. Youngquist	p. 363
Making Reproduction a Crime	p. 368
Questions and Comments	p. 387
Court-Ordered Cesarean Sections
The Colonization of the Womb	p. 391
Questions and Comments	p. 402
Permission Acknowledgments	p. 403
About the Contributors	p. 406
Index	p. 409
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