3 Review(s)

This prize-winning study of the politics of abortion and fertility has already been received as the definitive text on the subject in the USA. Petchesky shows that attitudes about, and provision of, abortion not only vary sharply over time but are also different for women of different class and economic backgrounds. The book provides a mass of evidence against the "moral majority" anti-abortion forces and also takes up issues of teenage sexuality, the politics of eugenics, and women's relationship to medical technology. The Verso edition of this highly-acclaimed work includes a substantial introduction for British readers. Winner of the American Historical Association's Joan Kelly Memorial Prize in Women's History