Controlling the Woman to Protect the Fetus

Abstract

Even many women who view reproductive capabilities not as a detriment but as an important source of joy in their lives recognize that women's reproductive capabilities have long been used to oppress them. The ability to reproduce has been an important factor in women's loss of control over their own lives, contributing to their being controlled by chance, by government, and by other people—husbands, boyfriends, parents. In the past, to the extent that reproduction has not been left to chance, the woman herself has often not been the decision-maker. Husbands have often coerced women into producing and raising offspring when they did not want to, and societal attitudes have had the same effect of encouraging marriage, then motherhood. Historically, state governments have participated in coercing childbirth as well, some by prohibiting or restricting birth control and all states by prohibiting abortion.