A Womb of One’s Own

A powerful call to reconceive women’s reproductive rights by arguing to move beyond Roe for a new feminist politics of abortion

Following the Supreme Court's controversial decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, public debate over one's right to choose has dominated the landscape of American politics. In A Womb of One’s Own, Claire McKinney provides sharp, feminist insight into these shocking developments, exploring how medicine - and the question of abortion - have always shaped women's subordinate social and political roles.

Drawing on rich, archival research, as well as abortion case law, McKinney shows how doctors and other medical experts have been key political actors, either fighting for - or against - abortion access at different points in American history. Examining the 19th century anti-abortion physician’s campaign to criminalize abortion, 20th century movements for the liberalization of abortion, U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence, and contemporary abortion politics, Claire McKinney shows that the meaning of health, the reproductive body, and the political function of abortion law have often been influenced by what McKinney calls a “medicalized citizenship.” At this moment of extreme uncertainty in abortion politics, this new lens for thinking about how gender is made and remade through encounters with medicine and the law could not be more timely.

McKinney shows how state and medical authorities both clash and collude with one another, drawing and re-drawing the boundaries of gendered citizenship for women and pregnant people. Ultimately, A Womb of One’s Own underscores the surprising influence of medicine in politics, and its role in determining the proper treatment of women, their bodies, and their social and political roles.