The Reproductive Rights Reader: Law, Medicine, and the Construction of Motherhood / Edition 1

by Nancy Ehrenreich

Overview

Since the passage of Roe v. Wade, the debate over reproductive rights has dominated America’s courts, legislatures, and streets. The contributors to The Reproductive Rights Reader embrace 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 is not 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814722312
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	01/01/2008
Series:	Critical America , #23
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	419
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Nancy Ehrenreich is Professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.

Table of Contents

A Note from the Editor     xi
Introduction     1
Questioning Science: Feminist Critiques of Medical Knowledge and Practice
Introduction to Part I     23
The Sexual Politics of Sickness   Barbara Ehrenreich   Deirdre English     24
Delusions in Discourse   Alexandra Dundas Todd     32
Body Narratives, Body Boundaries   Emily Martin     42
"Cultural Practice" or "Reconstructive Surgery"? U.S. Genital Cutting, the Intersex Movement, and Medical Double Standards   Cheryl Chase     47
Questions and Comments     57
Forced Motherhood? Legal Regulation of Pregnancy Termination
Abortion: The Legal Framework
Introduction to Part II(A)     63
Social and Historical Context
Medicine and Morality in the Nineteenth Century   Kristin Luker     69
When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867-1973   Leslie J. Reagan     78
Racism, Birth Control, and Reproductive Rights   Angela Davis     86
Questions and Comments     94
The "Privacy" Formulation and Its Critics
Roe V. Wade     99
Beyond "A Woman's Right to Choose": Feminist Ideas about Reproductive Rights   Rosalind Pollack Petchesky     106
Harris v. McRae     111
Surrogacy as Resistance? The Misplaced Focus on Choice in the Surrogacy and Abortion Funding Contexts   Nancy Ehrenreich     116
Questions and Comments     123
The "Undue Burden" Test
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey     127
Brief Amici Curiae of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., et al., Submitted in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services   Joan Gibbs   Mary M. Gundrum   Rhonda Copelon   Wendy Brown   Cathy Bell   Barbara Wolvovitz     137
Questions and Comments     143
The Equality Approach
Abortion as a Sex Equality Right: Its Basis in Feminist Theory   Reva B. Siegel     147
Brief Amici Curiae of 274 Organizations in Support of Roe v. Wade, Submitted in Turnock v. Ragsdale   Kathleen M. Sullivan   Susan R. Estrich     161
Questions and Comments     164
Abortion: Special Topics
Introduction to Part II(B)     169
Late-Term Abortion
Stenberg v. Carhart     173
Crossing the Line: The Political and Moral Battle over Late-Term Abortion   Rigel C. Oliveri     180
Gonzales v. Carhart     190
Questions and Comments     198
Minors' Access to Abortion
Politics and Pregnancy: Adolescent Mothers and Public Policy   Deborah L. Rhode     201
Sex Education: Politicians, Parents, Teachers, and Teens and Understanding "Abstinence": Implications for Individuals, Programs, and Policies   Cynthia Dailard     210
Questions and Comments     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   Julie F. Kowitz     223
Disability Rights and Selective Abortion   Marsha Saxton     231
Reproductive Rights of Women in Prison
Searching for the State: Who Governs Prisoners' Reproductive Rights?   Rachel Roth     243
Questions and Comments     253
Motherhood Denied: Legal Regulation of Conception
Introduction to Part III     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   Rickie Solinger     261
The Social Meaning of the Norplant Condition: Constitutional Considerations of Race, Class, and Gender   Catherine Albiston     275
The Ideology of Division: Behavior Modification Welfare Reform Proposals   Lucy A. Williams     288
Questions and Comments      296
Assisted Reproduction: Regulation of "Surrogacy" and Cloning
What's Wrong with a Parenthood Market? A New and Improved Theory of Commodification   Martha M. Ertman     299
Race and the New Reproduction   Dorothy Roberts     308
Is There a Right to Clone? Constitutional Challenges to Bans on Human Cloning   Lori B. Andrews     320
Questions and Comments     331
The Disciplining of Mothers-to-Be: Legal Regulation of Behavior during Pregnancy
Introduction to Part IV     335
Pregnancy and Fertility Discrimination in the Workplace
Troupe v. May Department Stores Co.     339
Pregnancy, Parenting, and Capitalism   Ruth Colker     343
Sapphire Bound!   Regina Austin     350
Questions and Comments     360
Tort and Criminal Liability for Prenatal Behavior
Stallman v. Youngquist     363
Making Reproduction a Crime   Dorothy Roberts     368
Questions and Comments     387
Court-Ordered Cesarean Sections
The Colonization of the Womb   Nancy Ehrenreich     391
Questions and Comments     402
Permission Acknowledgments     403
About the Contributors     406
Index     409

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“The Reproductive Rights Reader is sure to be a vital resource to anyone who’s been following any and all of the many conversations that Ehrenreich brings to the forefront on reproduction policy in American society since Roe vs. Wade. . . . For those of us starved for a nuanced yet substantial exploration of the complexities of the reproductive rights in the U.S., The Reproductive Rights Reader delivers just that.”
-Feminist Review

,

“The Reproductive Rights Reader offers a thoughtful, powerful, and provocative examination of fundamental questions, philosophies, and attitudes that inform and shape our discussion of these critical health care and public policy concerns.”
-The Journal of Legal Medicine

,

“At a troubling time in history when a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has called into question the constitutional protection of women’s health and equality, this book comes none too soon. The Reproductive Rights Reader gives us a uniquely comprehensive and useful collection of the major court decisions, legal briefs and scholarly commentaries on the searing debates about reproductive politics in US public discourse over the past 40 years. And it does so not only through the lenses of the law, science and public health but also with a clear focus on the critical dimensions of gender, race, class, sexuality, poverty, social exclusion and social justice. It is an absolutely indispensable resource.”
-Rosalind P. Petchesky,author of Abortion and Woman’s Choice

“Powerful and provocative, The Reproductive Rights Reader explodes the stale debate over the constitutional legitimacy of Roe v. Wade by bringing critical perspectives of race, gender and class to the question of women’s control over their reproductive lives. Taking seriously issues of substantive equality, this volume is essential reading for all those interested in human rights and social justice.”
-Nancy Northup,President, Center for Reproductive Rights, and Lecturer-in-Law, Columbia Law School

“This type of anthology bridges the sciences and humanities and narrows the divide between these two broad areas of study.”
-Martha Chamallas,Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University

Editorial Reviews

"Powerful and provocative, The Reproductive Rights Reader explodes the stale debate over the constitutional legitimacy of Roe v. Wade by bringing critical perspectives of race, gender and class to the question of womens control over their reproductive lives. Taking seriously issues of substantive equality, this volume is essential reading for all those interested in human rights and social justice."

Nancy Northup

"The Reproductive Rights Reader offers a thoughtful, powerful, and provocative examination of fundamental questions, philosophies, and attitudes that inform and shape our discussion of these critical health care and public policy concerns."

The Journal of Legal Medicine

"The Reproductive Rights Reader is sure to be a vital resource to anyone whos been following any and all of the many conversations that Ehrenreich brings to the forefront on reproduction policy in American society since Roe vs. Wade. . . . For those of us starved for a nuanced yet substantial exploration of the complexities of the reproductive rights in the U.S., The Reproductive Rights Reader delivers just that."

Feminist Review

"At a troubling time in history when a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has called into question the constitutional protection of womens health and equality, this book comes none too soon. The Reproductive Rights Reader gives us a uniquely comprehensive and useful collection of the major court decisions, legal briefs and scholarly commentaries on the searing debates about reproductive politics in US public discourse over the past 40 years. And it does so not only through the lenses of the law, science and public health but also with a clear focus on the critical dimensions of gender, race, class, sexuality, poverty, social exclusion and social justice. It is an absolutely indispensable resource."

Rosalind P. Petchesky

"This type of anthology bridges the sciences and humanities and narrows the divide between these two broad areas of study."

Martha Chamallas

Powerful and provocative, The Reproductive Rights Reader explodes the stale debate over the constitutional legitimacy of Roe v. Wade by bringing critical perspectives of race, gender and class to the question of women’s control over their reproductive lives. Taking seriously issues of substantive equality, this volume is essential reading for all those interested in human rights and social justice.”

-Nancy Northup,President, Center for Reproductive Rights, and Lecturer-in-Law, Columbia Law School

“ The Reproductive Rights Reader is sure to be a vital resource to anyone who’s been following any and all of the many conversations that Ehrenreich brings to the forefront on reproduction policy in American society since Roe vs. Wade. . . . For those of us starved for a nuanced yet substantial exploration of the complexities of the reproductive rights in the U.S., The Reproductive Rights Reader delivers just that.”

- Feminist Review

From the Publisher