Happy Abortions: Our Bodies in the Era of Choice

353 Pages·2017·0.78 MB·English

by  Erica Millar

‘The meanings ascribed by society to women’s reproductive
decisions do not necessarily portray our actual emotions. Erica’s
book celebrates that abortion, like childbirth, can be a joyful experience
when achieving reproductive justice through human rights.’
Loretta Ross, Co-founder, SisterSong Women of
Color Reproductive Justice Collective
‘An exciting and unique addition to the literature on reproductive
choice. It challenges the framing of abortion across the political
spectrum and throughout the modern world, and forces a
reappraisal of our thinking. Furthermore – it’s a darn good read!’
Ann Furedi, Chief Executive, British
Pregnancy Advisory Service
‘A provocative and important book that every pro-choice advocate
should read. Millar reminds us that abortion is a normal fact of
life and a social good. This shouldn’t be a radical claim but, in a
world where abortions rights are under attack, it is.’
Sinéad Kennedy, Secretary, Coalition to
Repeal the Eighth Amendment (Ireland)
‘An important contribution to the literature on abortion.
Millar’s evocative book critically examines political and movement
discourses, with attention to gender, race, class, and nation, exposing
the anti-abortion framings that permeate all sides of the debate.’
Katrina Kimport, Bixby Center for
Global Reproductive Health, UCSF
‘This compelling dissection of the emotional common sense of
abortion offers a crucial step towards rejecting the “awfulization”
of abortion. Ending a pregnancy is revealed for what it has
always been: an inevitable and normal part of women’s lives.’
Sally Sheldon, Kent University
‘In this thoughtful and well-written book, Erica Millar deconstructs
the emotional discourses surrounding abortion. A sophisticated
and timely work that should be essential reading for all those
interested or working in the area of abortion, as well as
activists and academics.’
Pam Lowe, Aston University
‘Offers a carefully crafted bundle of feminist ideas that enable
new insights into the politics of choice. Invaluable reading for
students, scholars, and abortion activists seeking to deploy
feminist analysis in service of the urgent need to enable and
improve access to abortion for all who need it.’
Barbara Baird, Flinders University
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erica Millar is an interdisciplinary scholar who specialises
in the history, sociology and cultural politics of reproduction.
She has published widely on how cultural representations of
reproduction work to regulate subjects in the current neolib-
eral period and reify structures of inequality, such as those
pertaining to race, social class and gender. She is also inter-
ested in the biopolitics of reproduction, and how attempts
to control and normatively construct women’s reproduc-
tive bodies fi t into larger projects of nation-building. She has
taught gender studies, sociology and history across several
Australian universities and currently lectures in gender studies
and sociology at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
Happy
Abortions
OUR BODIES IN THE
ERA OF CHOICE
Erica Millar
Happy Abortions: Our Bodies in the Era of Choice was
fi rst published in 2017 by Zed Books Ltd, The Foundry,
17 Oval Way, London SE11 5RR, UK.
www.zedbooks.net
Copyright © Erica Millar 2017
The rights of Erica Millar to be identifi ed as the editor of
this work have been asserted by her in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
Typeset in Avenir and Haarlemmer
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon
Index by [email protected]
Cover design by Alice Marwick
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Zed Books Ltd.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9781-78699-131-7 hb
ISBN 978-1-78699-130-0 pb
ISBN 978-1-78699-132-4 pdf
ISBN 978-1-78699-133-1 epub
ISBN 978-1-78699-134-8 mobi
C O N T E N T S
Acknowledgements vi
INTRODUCTION:
AN EMOTIONAL CHOICE 1
1 THE POLITICS OF CHOICE 49
2 HAPPY CHOICES 89
3 THE GRIEF OF CHOICE 136
4 SHAMEFUL CHOICES 184
5 THE NATION’S CHOICE? 221
CONCLUSION: A VIABLE ABORTION 260
Notes 281
Bibliography 285
Index 322
A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S
This book has been a long time in the making and, as such, I
owe gratitude to just about everyone I know: so thank you!
Many of the ideas in this book were developed in dialogue
with friends and mentors, several of whom read drafts and
offered astute and valuable feedback, helping to fi ll gaps and
push my arguments to a further level of complexity. Jordy
Silverstein has helped me see the value in my work, and her
integrity and passionate engagement with the world has
served as a model, motivating me to continue with and fi nish
this book. I am incredibly grateful to Ann Genovese, who
has offered me immense support and guidance in academia
and beyond; her scholarship also provides endless inspira-
tion. Maree Pardy gave invaluable advice on the manuscript
and introduced me to theoretical frameworks that are funda-
mental to the book. Barbara Baird’s work provided a platform
upon which many of the arguments of this book developed,
and conversations with her have helped refi ne its arguments
immeasurably. Several other academic friends have carefully
and perceptively read chapters and offered encouragement,
and their excellent scholarship has extended my knowledge
of the world in ways that have fed into the book in one way
or another. Thanks especially to Cath Kevin, Claire McLisky
and Ben Silverstein.
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My students and colleagues in the School of Social
Sciences at the University of Adelaide have made it a pleasure
to come into work, and special thanks to Pam Papadelos, Anna
Szorenyi and Megan Warin for offering me mentorship and
friendship. My editor at Zed Books, Kim Walker, kept me to
deadlines and provided encouragement through the process.
My former editor, Kika Sroka-Miller, believed in the project
and got it off the ground.
Parts of this book have appeared in earlier forms as
follows; I thank the publishers for permission to reprint mate-
rials in this book and the editors and reviewers for their helpful
feedback: (2014) Abortion, selfi shness and happy objects. In:
Brooks, A. and Lemmings, D. eds. Norbert Elias, Emotional
Styles and Historical Change. New York: Routledge, 196–213;
(2015) Choice-makers or failures: Providing a genealogy of
abortion shame and shaming. Law & History: The Journal of
the Australian and New Zealand Law & History Society, 2, 114–
145; (2015) “Too many”: Anxious white nationalism and the
biopolitics of abortion in contemporary Australian history.
Australian Feminist Studies, 30(83), 82–98; (2016) Mourned
choices and grievable lives: How the anti-abortion movement
came to defi ne the abortion experience. Gender & History,
28(2), 501–519; (2017) Feminism, foetocentrism and the
politics of abortion choice in 1970s Australia. In: Stettner, S.,
Ackerman, K., Burnett, K., Hay, T. eds. Transcending Borders:
Abortion in the Past and Present. London & New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 121–136.
My parents, Jennifer and Alexander; my sisters, Meredith,
Petra and Rachel; my neices and nephews; and my extended
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Burgess and Robertson families have provided much needed
encouragement and support; as have several dear friends, of
whom I particularly thank Miranda, Vicki, Marina and Judith.
Finally, I am deeply indebted to Shane, whose kindness,
humour and brilliance helped me in innumerable ways to
fi nish this book.
This book is dedicated to my grandmother, Dorothy
Jean Bassett (1921–2016), whose warmth, care and affection
sustained me for most of the time it took to research and write.
Thank you.
viii
I N T R O D U C T I O N :
A N E M O T I O N A L
C H O I C E
Like a year ago I had an abortion at the Planned Parent-
hood on Madison Ave, and I remember this experience
with a nearly inexpressible level of gratitude … Plenty
of people still believe that on some level—if you are a
good woman—abortion is a choice which should be
accompanied by some level of sadness, shame, or regret.
But you know what? I have a good heart and having an
abortion made me happy in a totally unqualifi ed way.
Why wouldn’t I be happy that I was not forced to become
a mother? (Amelia Bonow cited in West 2015)
Pro-choice activists have recently begun to identify and chal-
lenge an emotional script that impinges upon women as they
approach, experience and remember their abortions. The
script depicts abortion as an incredibly diffi cult choice made
in response to extraneous circumstances that are beyond the
woman’s immediate control; it requires women to justify their
abortions, preferably by citing the best interests of their poten-
tial children, to grieve their lost children after abortion, and to
keep their abortions secret out of a sense of shame or guilt.
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