Autonomous Motherhood?: A Socio-Legal Study of Choice and Constraint

290 Pages·2015·2.468 MB·English

by  Susan B. Boyd, Dorothy E. Chunn, Fiona Kelly, Wanda Wiegers

AUTONOMOUS MOTHERHOOD?
A Socio-Legal Study of Choice and Constraint
Since the end of the Second World War, increasing numbers of women
have decided to become mothers without intending the biological
father or a partner to participate in parenting. Many conceive via donor
insemination or adopt; others become pregnant after a brief sexual rela-
tionship and decide to parent alone.
Using a feminist socio-legal framework, Autonomous Motherhood?
probes fundamental assumptions within the law about the nature
of family and parenting. Drawing on a range of empirical evidence,
including legislative history, case studies, and interviews with single
mothers, the authors conclude that while women may now have the
economic and social freedom to parent alone, they must still negoti-
ate a socio-legal framework that suggests their choice goes against the
interests of society, fatherhood, and children.
susan b. boyd is a professor and holds the Chair in Feminist Legal
Studies in the Faculty of Law at the University of British Columbia.
dorothy e. chunn is a professor emerita of sociology in the Department
of Sociology and Anthropology at Simon Fraser University.
fiona kelly is a senior lecturer in the School of Law at La Trobe University.
wanda wiegers is a professor in the College of Law at the University of
Saskatchewan.
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Autonomous Motherhood?
A Socio-Legal Study of Choice
and Constraint
SUSAN B. BOYD, DOROTHY E. CHUNN,
FIONA KELLY, AND WANDA WIEGERS

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
© University of Toronto Press 2015
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
Printed in the U.S.A.
ISBN 978-1-4426-4895-1 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-4426-2645-4 (paper)
Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with
vegetable-based inks.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Boyd, Susan B., author
Autonomous motherhood? : a socio-legal study of choice and constraint /
Susan B. Boyd, Dorothy E. Chunn, Fiona Kelly, and Wanda Wiegers.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4426-4895-1 (bound). – ISBN 978-1-4426-2645-4 (pbk.)
1. Single mothers – Canada – Social conditions. 2. Single mothers –
Legal status, laws, etc. – Canada. I. Chunn, Dorothy E. (Dorothy Ellen),
1943–, author II. Wiegers, Wanda, author III. Kelly, Fiona J., 1975–,
author IV. Title.
HQ759.45.B69 2015 306.874'320971 C2014-907133-7
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario
Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support of the
Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for its publishing
activities.

This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Federation
for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly
Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada.
For all women past and present who decided to become sole parents
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Contents
Preface ix
1 Motherhood, Autonomy, Choice, and Constraint 3
2 Autonomous Mothers and the Emergence of Unmarried Fathers’
Rights to Access and Custody 38
3 “A person is the child of his natural parents”: Illegitimacy,
Law Reform, and Maternal Autonomy 60
4 Custody and Access Disputes between Unmarried,
Non-Cohabiting Biological Parents, 1945–2009 95
5 Women’s Experiences of Autonomous Motherhood,
1965–2010: A Historical Snapshot 137
6 Autonomous from the Start: The Narratives of Twenty-First-
Century Single Mothers by Choice 172
7 Whither Autonomous Motherhood? Choice and Constraint 212
Works Cited 237
Index 265
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Preface
This book represents a lengthy collaboration between the co-authors
that began with a 2007 lunch conversation at UBC Law School between
Susan Boyd and Fiona Kelly. They were pondering a research project
that would build on their respective work on changing definitions of
parenthood, lesbian motherhood, and fathers’ rights. Fiona mentioned
the emerging phenomenon of “single mothers by choice.” As they
brainstormed the topic, they thought about collaborators who would
enhance the project. The work that Dorothy Chunn and Wanda Wiegers
had done on single and unmarried mothers came to mind, and the rest
is history. Wanda had an interest in exploring the history of illegitimacy,
which became fundamental to our inquiry. Dorothy’s sociological and
historical expertise was also key, as we quickly decided that, in addition
to our legal research, the topic required that we conduct interviews that
might capture differences across time. An interdisciplinary approach
was essential.
In 2008, the four of us were awarded a standard research grant by
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to
explore the question of “Autonomous Motherhood? A Socio-Legal
Investigation,” with Susan Boyd as principal investigator. As a result
of a maternity leave and a series of less happy and unforeseen circum-
stances, including the death of one of our mothers, and some ill health,
the grant was extended to 2015. This book is the main collaborative
product of the project.
Our co-authorship of the book reflects the participation that all of us

have had in the project. That said, we each took primary responsibility
for certain sub-studies and for authoring certain chapters. Wanda un-
dertook the case law studies for chapters 2 and 4 and was the primary