View the Table of Contents.
Read the Introduction.
aReaders will find within this book a deeply researched and fine
analysis of reproductive politics spanning 250 years. It definitely
should be of interest to legal scholars and law students and also
to political and social historians.a
--"The American Journal of Legal History"
"Solinger is impressively optimistic about America's potential
not only to evolve into 'a country of reproductive justice, ' but
also to overcome centuries of the sex, race, and class prejudice
that have literally built our society.'
--"Bitch"
"A concise historical overview. . . . Based primarily on a vast
array of well-documented secondary sources, this book is a
well-written and useful overview of the politics behind pregnancy
in the U.S. . . . Highly recommended."
--"Choice"
"This succinct, highly readable political and cultural history
of a wide range of reproductive issues is a near-perfect primer on
the topic."
--"Publishers Weekly"
aThe book is well documented and well written... I expect this
book to find a place in many classrooms.a
--" The Journal of American History"
"Rickie Solinger puts today's 'culture wars' over abortion,
birth control and sex education into a historical context that is
rich, complex and full of surprises. A deeply researched-and highly
readable-book that should reach the widest possible
audience."
--Katha Pollitt, author of "Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents
on Women, Politics, and Culture"
"An extraordinary accomplishment. In a courageous exploration of
American history, Solinger demonstrates how public supervision of
sex and social reproduction have served to maintain
racialprivilege."
--Alice Kessler-Harris, author of "In Pursuit of Equity: Women,
Men, and the Quest for Economic Citizenship in Twentieth-Century
America"
"Pregnancy and Power definitively demolishes the myth that
reproductive politics has ever been about women's choice. Rickie
Solinger's brilliant and comprehensive analysis shows that,
throughout U.S. history, reproductive regulation has served a
social agenda that especially disadvantages women of color."
--Dorothy Roberts, author of "Killing the Black Body: Race,
Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty"
"We must all be grateful to Rickie Solinger for another of her
pithy, compelling interpretive histories. Pregnancy and Power
offers a thoughtful, lucid overview of reproductive issues
throughout U.S. history--an extremely valuable contribution that
should be widely read."
--Linda Gordon, author of "The Moral Property of Women: Birth
Control Politics in America"
"Solinger shows how the past is truly prologue as she connects
contemporary political struggles over pregnancy and pregnancy
limitation to racism and colonialism in the United States"
--Loretta J. Ross, co-author, "Undivided Rights: Women of Color
Organizing for Reproductive Justice"
""Pregnancy and Power" embraces far more than the usual
perspective."
--"MBR: California Bookwatch"
[R]eading Rickie Solingeras Pregnancy and Power felt in some
ways like taking a medicinal tonic. She provides a vision of what a
society dedicated to reproductive justice could be... [Pregnancy
and Power] made me think-- and for that, I like this book
immensely.
--"The Womenas Review of Books"
A sweeping chronicle of women's battles for reproductive
freedomthroughout American history, Pregnancy and Power explores
the many forces--social, racial, economic, and political--that have
shaped women's reproductive lives in the United States.
Leading historian Rickie Solinger argues that a woman's control
over her body involves much more than the right to choose an
abortion. Reproductive politics were at play when slaveholders
devised breeding schemes, when the U.S. government took Indian
children from their families in the nineteenth century, and when
doctors pressed Latina women to be sterilized in the 1970s. Tracing
the diverse plot lines of women's reproductive lives throughout
American history, Solinger redefines the idea of reproductive
freedom, putting race and class at the center of the effort to
control sex and pregnancy in America over time.
Solinger asks which women have how many children under what
circumstances, and shows how reproductive experiences have been
encouraged or coerced, rewarded or punished, honored or exploited
over the last 250 years. Viewed in this way, the debate over
reproductive rights raises questions about access to sex education
and prenatal care, about housing laws, about access to citizenship,
and about which women lose children to adoption and foster
care.
Pregnancy and Power shows that a complete understanding of
reproductive politics must take into account the many players
shaping public policy-lawmakers, educators, employers, clergy,
physicians-as well as the consequences for women who obey and
resist these policies. Tracing the diverse plotlines of women's
reproductive lives throughout American history, Solinger redefines
the idea of reproductive freedom, putting race and class at the
center ofthe struggle to control sex and pregnancy in America.
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