Reproductive Politics in the United States

228 Pages·2022·3.937 MB·English

by  Kimala Price

Reproductive Politics in the United States
Reproductive Politics in the United States is a concise, accessible, and
engaging introduction to what continues to be a contentious and polarizing
topic in the United States.
Focusing on the current debates, controversies, and realities of repro-
ductive justice, this text seeks to examine the historical, social, and cultural
forces that shape those politics. Making use of an explicitly feminist frame-
work, the book analyzes how the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity,
class, sexuality, and other markers of difference are implicated in protest
and policy.
This is a primer for Women’s and Gender Studies students, and for those
coming to the topic for the first time.
Kimala Price is Associate Professor and Chair of Women’s Studies, and
Co-Director of the Bread and Roses Center for Feminist Research and
Activism at San Diego State University. A political scientist by training, she
has published numerous articles and book chapters on reproductive health
policy and politics, the reproductive justice movement, political intersec-
tionality, interpretive research methodology, and community-engaged
research. Her work has appeared in academic journals such as Politics &
Gender, Politics, Groups, and Identities, Meridians: Feminism, Race, Trans-
nationalism, Women’s Health Issues, Sexuality Research and Social Policy,
the Journal of Feminist Scholarship, and Contexts, and in edited books
such as Home Girls Make Some Noise: A Hip Hop Feminist Anthology
and LGBTQ Politics: A Critical Reader.

Reproductive Politics in the
United States
Kimala Price
Cover credit: © Getty Images
First published 2022
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2022 Kimala Price
The right of Kimala Price to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
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including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-04930-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-04931-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-16964-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781315169644
Typeset in Sabon
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
Contents
Acknowledgements vi
1 The political and cultural landscape 1
2 Preventing pregnancy 19
3 Abortion politics 38
4 Birthing justice 64
5 Sexual justice 88
6 Teens and sexuality 116
7 Assisted reproductive and genetic technologies 139
8 Reproduction in popular culture 160
9 Making sense of reproductive politics 185
Index 204
Acknowledgements
This book was written with students, practitioners, and researchers in mind.
It is for individuals who have a casual familiarity with the topic and want to
learn more as well as the researcher or practitioner who wants a refresher.
The book not only draws from my 25+ years of experience as a scholar and
advocate, but it is also inspired by the countless hours I have spent in the
classroom and in community spaces as a teacher. This book is dedicated to
the students that I have taught over the last 15 years at San Diego State Uni-
versity as well as the participants of the numerous community workshops
and guest lectures I have done over the years. I have taught about reproduc-
tive politics in many of my undergraduate and graduate courses, including
an upper division course titled Reproductive Rights and Justice, and I have
conducted many workshops and lectures for local community groups and
at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.
While this book is a synthesis of research and data from multiple fields
of academic inquiry, it is also shaped by the questions, insights, viewpoints,
and sometimes bewilderment of my students and workshop participants.
I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to view reproductive politics
from their fresh eyes, a different vantage point from which to understand
the contradictions, beliefs, and assumptions driving this issue. This was
immensely helpful as I strove to make reproductive politics comprehensible
to those who are relative newcomers.
When I began writing this book more than four years ago, I could not
have anticipated that this country and the world would soon be entering
one of the most politically and socially challenging times in human history.
It began with the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. Presidency in 2016.
Subsequently, we saw the rise of right-wing authoritarianism around the
world, increased political polarization within the United States, the emer-
gence of a global health pandemic that has affected and killed millions of
people, an economic downturn resulting from the pandemic lockdowns,
and the social and political unrest in response to police brutality and state
violence targeting black communities. In 2020, we endured yet another
contentious presidential election that thwarted Trump’s bid for a second
term, and on January 6, 2021, we witnessed in real time a violent siege on
the U.S. Capitol as disgruntled Trump supporters attempted to overturn
Acknowledgements vii
the election results. Meanwhile, state legislators in some states continued
to test the boundaries of the legality of abortion by enacting more stringent
restrictions on the procedure. Some states also passed legislation curbing the
rights of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly the rights of trans people.
As scholars and researchers, we are quick to acknowledge the intellectual
and physical effort it takes to design and implement a significant research
project or to produce an article, book, or other scholarly artifact; however,
we are less inclined to acknowledge the mental and emotional toll we may
have endured while pursuing our scholarly passions or the effects of unfore-
seen circumstances on our work, well-being, and subsequent productivity.
Reproductive politics is already an issue laden with controversy and is in a
constant state of flux. It can be difficult to write a book on an issue that reg-
ularly has new developments. It also is not easy to write such a book while
the country and the world is reeling from an unprecedented convergence of
social, political, and economic events. It helps to have a strong professional
and personal support network.
I would like to thank Alexandra McGregor, my editor at Routledge, who
first contacted me in the summer of 2016 to discuss the possibility of my
writing a book on reproductive politics. Her steadfast encouragement and
support gently shepherded the book to fruition. I would also like to thank
the entire team at Routledge for their patience as I slowly worked on draft-
ing a full (and perhaps compelling) manuscript. Due to personal crises and
increased professional duties and responsibilities, it took me longer than
anticipated to get the book done. I would also like to thank the anonymous
reviewers who provided valuable feedback on the initial proposal, individ-
ual chapters, and the full manuscript. Their comments helped me sharpen
the book’s focus and prose, and challenged me to write clear, concise argu-
ments. This manuscript is the better for it.
I would like to express my immense gratitude to my network of col-
leagues, friends, and family who were supportive during this whole process.
I especially would like to thank three of my colleagues, Victoria Gonzalez-
Rivera, Huma Ahmed Ghosh, and Doreen Mattingly. We supported and
commiserated with each other as we each were working on our respec-
tive book projects. Second, I would like to thank my friend, colleague, and
sometimes travel companion Oliva Espin for her sage advice and support
as I contemplated taking on this project. Additionally, when I needed res-
pite from the stress, anxiety, and uncertainty of living in a world spiraling
into utter chaos, I was blessed to have a circle of friends and family willing
to lend a sympathetic ear and/or indulge my fascination with pop culture
(including reality TV shows and “prestige” TV shows alike). A special shout
out goes to Katrina Price, Suzanne Lightman, Karen Shelby, Tiffany Wil-
loughby-Heard, Zenzele Isoke, Marshelia Harris, and Samantha Majic. Of
course, I was also willing to reciprocate whenever they needed that support
as well.
I am also personally indebted to two groups of people that proved to be
vital to me during these uncertain times: my (virtual) Sunday brunch crew
viii Acknowledgements
(Arlene Prater, Joy Delman, Nora Jaffe, and Joni Low) and my monthly
book group (Oliva Espin, Sharon Foster, Debra Kawahara, Marie Thomas,
Pam Rood, Karen Shelby, Doreen Mattingly, and Dehbi Fleming). These
two groups provided camaraderie and a semblance of normalcy during the
pandemic lockdowns.
I received valuable financial support from the SDSU College of Arts and
Letters (CAL) and the SDSU Department of Women’s Studies. A Critical
Thinking Grant in the Humanities and Social Sciences provided a much-
needed course release during the early stage of this project, and small grants
from the CAL Dean and the Women’s Studies Department helped with the
final preparation of the manuscript.
Last, I would like to thank my parents Effie Price and the late Heze-
kiah Price Jr. for their hard work and investment in the education of my
sisters—Katrice Price and Katrina Price—and me. Without their dedication,
encouragement, wisdom, and (high) expectations throughout the course of
our lives, this book and my career would not have been possible or even
imaginable.
1 The political and cultural landscape
Reproductive politics has been a contentious and polarizing topic in the
United States, especially during the last 40 years. Public opinion polls have
consistently shown that the American public is evenly split in its support
of abortion rights. Fifty-nine percent of Americans believe that abortion
should be legal in all or most cases, while 39% say it should be illegal in
all or most cases (Hartig, 2021). Between 2011 and 2014, many states have
enacted a total of 231 abortion restrictions, including counseling and wait-
ing period requirements, restrictions targeting abortion providers, parental
consent or notification for teen girls, and restrictions on public funding
(Nash, Gold, Mohammed, Ansari-Thomas, & Cappello, 2018). In 2014, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of closely held private corporations who
refuse to provide health insurance coverage for contraceptives because of
their religious beliefs. Many public school districts provide abstinence-only
programs instead of comprehensive sexuality education classes.
The 2016 presidential election exposed the still-lingering social and
cultural schisms split along gender, race, class, and sexuality lines among
American voters. Reproductive and sexual rights, in particular, played a
prominent role in the contest for the Republican Party’s nomination. In
debates, town hall forums, TV and radio interviews, rallies, and other cam-
paign events, all of the Republican candidates made unequivocal statements
about their opposition to abortion and expressed skepticism toward repro-
ductive rights in general (Jaffe, 2015). Many of the candidates made prom-
ises to make abortion illegal again, with some of them not even allowing
exemptions for cases involving rape or incest. For instance, U.S. Senator
Ted Cruz (Texas) and Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, both
vowed to rescind all public family planning funding from Planned Parent-
hood, with Cruz vowing to “defund and prosecute” the organization. In
several interviews, Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who is best known
for separating conjoined twins, expressed his opposition to abortion by
repeating unsubstantiated claims that abortion providers are deliberating
targeting African American communities as part of a “genocidal” campaign
against them.
During a heated exchange with MSNBC talk show Chris Matthews at
a town hall forum in Wisconsin, then-candidate Donald Trump declared
DOI: 10.4324/9781315169644-1