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Cover image for book Policing the Womb

Policing the Womb

Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood
By:Michele Goodwin
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Print ISBN:9781107030176
eText ISBN:9781108788793
Edition:0
Format:Page Fidelity

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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.