Contemporary Pregnancy Rituals in Mainstream Medicine and the Anti-Abortion Agenda in England and the U.S.A since 2000
Keywords:
Reproductive Rights, Anti-Abortion Agenda, Contemporary Pregnancy Rituals, Performative Rituals, Performativity, Personhood, Foetal Personhood, Pregnant Bodies, Gendered Bodies, Gendered Language, Pregnancy Language, Medicine and RitualityAbstract
The anti-abortion agenda worldwide seeks to afford fetuses with personhood status as a means to condemn abortion. This essay looks at normative medical pregnancy practices in England and the US since 2000 and argues them to be performative rituals which reinforce the notion of foetal personhood. Coming from the viewpoint that that which is constructed is inherently performative, informed by the theses’ of Judith Butler and Simone de Beauviour, I will argue that these ‘performances’ function as corroboratory with the anti-abortion campaign. By dissecting common practices of medical ante-natal care and information provision, including routine check-ups, the idea of the fetus as a patient, uses of language, and medical technologies used in pregnancy, I will reason my claim in a scientific context, with specific reference to the social, legal and societal contexts from which this medicine has grown.
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