Policing Pregnant Bodies
From Ancient Greece to Post-Roe America
$69.61
- Hardcover
288 pages
- Release Date
2 October 2023
Summary
Explores the historical roots of controversies over abortion, fetal personhood, miscarriage, and maternal mortality.
On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, asserting that the Constitution did not confer the right to abortion. This ruling, in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case, was the culmination of a half-century of pro-life activism promoting the idea that fetuses are people and therefore entitled to the r…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781421447636 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1421447630 |
| Author: | Kathleen M. Crowther |
| Publisher: | Johns Hopkins University Press |
| Imprint: | Johns Hopkins University Press |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 288 |
| Release Date: | 2 October 2023 |
| Weight: | 544g |
| Dimensions: | 25mm x 152mm x 229mm |
Critics Review
Timely and important.This book is a wake-up call for those who care about and for women and children.
—Library Journal (starred review)
Historian Kathleen Crowther sees a connection between Ancient Greek philosophers studying embryos and modern day abortion restrictions….In her new book, Policing Pregnant Bodies…Crowther examines ancient metaphors that are still being used, describes the process through which early physicians came to understand fetal development, and explores the pernicious notion that a pregnant woman is the primary threat to the health of her fetus.
—NPR
[Crowther] effectively shows how the same misogynistic ideas crop up repeatedly throughout history, pitting pregnant people against fetuses in a dangerous zero-sum game….In Policing Pregnant Bodies, Crowther combines three decades of experience as a medical historian with a rare ability to communicate clearly and engagingly with a general audience.
—Science
Crowther, a very knowledgeable historian of reproduction, effectively draws together ancient and modern religious and philosophical thought about the importance of the developing fetus and the minimal role (as told from the mostly male perspective) of the pregnant female body.This book is well researched and well referenced.
—Choice
Kathleen M. Crowther’s new book, ‘Policing Pregnant Bodies: From Ancient Greece to Post-Roe America’ breaks down historical perceptions of pregnancy and their relation to modern politics.
—Journal Review
Crowther convincingly argues that from its beginnings in ancient Greece, western medicine has pitted the developing fetus against the pregnant woman to the detriment of both….Soundly argued.
—Lancet
Crowther does an excellent job of demonstrating the long history behind some of the rightwing tropes currently popular in…efforts to end abortion and other elements of women’s healthcare.
—DAILY KOS
Kathleen M. Crowther
Kathleen M. Crowther (NORMAN, OK) is an associate professor in the Department of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine at the University of Oklahoma. She is the author of Adam and Eve in the Protestant Reformation.
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