Policing the Womb

Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood

Michele Goodwin

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781107030176
• eBook ISBN:
  9781108788793
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Law Theory & Practice
• Index: Law

In Policing the Womb, Michele Goodwin explores how states abuse laws and infringe on rights to police women and their pregnancies. This book looks at the impact of these often arbitrary laws which can result in the punishment, incarceration, and humiliation of women, particularly poor women and women of color. Frequently based on unscientific claims of endangering a fetus, these laws allow extraordinary powers to state authorities over reproductive freedom and pregnancies. In this book, Michele Goodwin discusses real examples of women whose pregnancies have been controlled by the law and what has led to the United States being the deadliest country in the developed world for a woman to be pregnant.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Pregnancy and State Power: Prosecuting Fetal Endangerment
• 3 Creeping Criminalization of Pregnancy across the United States
• 4 Abortion Law
• 5 Changing Roles of Doctors and Nurses: Hospital Snitches and Police Informants
• 6 Revisiting the Fiduciary Relationship
• 7 Creating Criminals: Race, Stereotypes, and Collateral Damage
• 8 The Pregnancy Penalty: When the State Gets It Wrong
• 9 Policing Beyond the Border
• 10 Lessons for Law and Society: A Reproductive Justice New Deal or Bill of Rights
• 11 Conclusion
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Select Bibliography
• Index