Abortion and Woman's Choice:The State, Sexuality and Reproductive Freedom
This prize-winning study of the politics of abortion and fertility has already been received as the definitive text on the subject in the USA. Petchesky shows that attitudes about, and provision of, abortion not only vary sharply over time but are also different for women of different class and economic backgrounds. The book provides a mass of evidence against the "moral majority" anti-abortion forces and also takes up issues of teenage sexuality, the politics of eugenics, and women's relationship to medical technology. The Verso edition of this highly-acclaimed work includes a substantial introduction for British readers.
Winner of the American Historical Association's Joan Kelly Memorial Prize in Women's History
Reviews
Abortion and Woman's Choice is a major contribution to feminist theory and politics. Petchecksy's analysis of abortion and the broader issues of reproductive rights succeeds brilliantly in combining scholarly rigour with political analysis. She draws on a wealth of material from sociology, social history, law, ethics, demography and biomedical technology to provide an analysis of issues which are critical for women, and her analysis of a socialist-feminist politics of reproductive freedom goes way beyond the simplistic notions of rights and freedom which are common on both sides of the Atlantic.
This is the best book I have read on the politics of reproduction. It raises complex theoretical and strategic questions, in a clear and accessible way, and represents an important breakthrough in feminist thinking.
This is an important contribution to the debate over reproduction, and to political thought.