Policing the womb : invisible women and the criminal costs of motherhood

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Bibliographic Information

Policing the womb : invisible women and the criminal costs of motherhood

Michele Goodwin, University of California, Irvine

Cambridge University Press, 2020

  • : hardback

Available at  / 2 libraries

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Includes bibliographical references and index

Summary: "This is not a work of fiction, although I wish it were. Some of the cases described here could evoke the imagery evoked by Mary Shelly, author of Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus, who tells a horror story about a young, rogue scientist who creates an unsightly monster through clandestine, aberrant experimentation. Although Frankenstein is the name of the monster's creator, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, readers would be forgiven for debating who the real monster happens to be. In Policing the Womb, the story of Marlise Muñoz comes to mind. Brain dead, decomposing in a Texas hospital, under legislation from the state, forced to gestate a barely developing fetus while her body decays and the anomalies in the fetus mount. Eventually, it will be reported that the fetus is hydrocephalic, which means severe brain damage in this case and water or fluid developing on its brain. Medical reports will also show that the fetus is not developing its lower extremities. The state knows brain death is irreversibl

Description and Table of Contents

Description

In Policing the Womb, Michele Goodwin explores how states abuse laws and infringe on rights to police women and their pregnancies. This book looks at the impact of these often arbitrary laws which can result in the punishment, incarceration, and humiliation of women, particularly poor women and women of color. Frequently based on unscientific claims of endangering a fetus, these laws allow extraordinary powers to state authorities over reproductive freedom and pregnancies. In this book, Michele Goodwin discusses real examples of women whose pregnancies have been controlled by the law and what has led to the United States being the deadliest country in the developed world for a woman to be pregnant.

Table of Contents

  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Pregnancy and state power: prosecuting fetal endangerment
  • 3. Creeping criminalization of pregnancy across the United States
  • 4. Abortion law
  • 5. Changing roles of doctors and nurses: hospital snitches and police informants
  • 6. Revisiting the fiduciary relationship
  • 7. Creating criminals: race, stereotypes, and collateral damage
  • 8. The pregnancy penalty: when the state gets it wrong
  • 9. Policing beyond the border
  • 10. Lessons for law and society: a reproductive justice New Deal or Bill of Rights
  • 11. Conclusion.

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