Joan C. Chrisler - Reproductive Justice

A Global Concern

Joan C. Chrisler

VIRGINIA BRAUN

THEMA BRYANT-DAVIS

PAMELA A. COUNTS

FLORENCE L. DENMARK

RUTHBETH FINERMAN

KAYOKO HAYASHI

INGRID JOHNSTON-ROBLEDO

MAKIKO KASAI

SAYAKA MACHIZAWA

RAMASWAMI MAHALINGAM

MARGARET A. MCLAREN

ALLISON MURRAY

AMY NADEL

KATHRYN L. NORSWORTHY

VRUSHALI PATIL

REBECCA A. PETRIE

ALIZA PHILLIPS

Foreword by Joy K. Rice, PhD

S. CRAIG ROONEY

LISA R. RUBIN

NANCY FELIPE RUSSO

LYNDA M. SAGRESTANO

NANCY M. SIDUN

JANET SIGAL

JULIA R. STEINBERG

DIONNE P. STEPHENS

TAMI L. THOMAS

SHAQUITA TILLMAN

MADELINE WACHMAN

LAURA D. WATERFIELD

Copyright 2012 by Joan C. Chrisler

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Reproductive justice : a global concern / Joan C. Chrisler, editor.

p. cm. (Womens psychology)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-313-39339-6 (hardcopy : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-313-39340-2 (ebook)

1. Human reproductionLaw and legislation. 2. Reproductive healthLaw and legislation. 3. Reproductive rights. 4. WomenLegal status, laws, etc.

I. Chrisler, Joan C.

K2000.R47 2012

342.0878dc23 2011038703

ISBN: 978-0-313-39339-6
EISBN: 978-0-313-39340-2

16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5

This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.
Visit www.abc-clio.com for details.

Praeger
An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC

ABC-CLIO, LLC
130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911
Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911

This book is printed on acid-free paper

Manufactured in the United States of America

Intimate Violence against Women: When Spouses, Partners, or Lovers Attack
Paula K. Lundberg-Love and Shelly L. Marmion, editors

Daughters of Madness: Growing Up and Older with a Mentally Ill Mother
Susan Nathiel

Psychology of Women: Handbook of Issues and Theories, Second Edition
Florence L. Denmark and Michele Paludi, editors

WomanSoul: The Inner Life of Womens Spirituality
Carole A. Rayburn and Lillian Comas-Diaz, editors

The Psychology of Women at Work: Challenges and Solutions for Our Female Workforce
Michele A. Paludi, editor

Feminism and Womens Rights Worldwide, Three Volumes
Michele A. Paludi, editor

Single Mother in Charge: How to Successfully Pursue Happiness
Sandy Chalkoun

Women and Mental Disorders, Four Volumes
Paula K. Lundberg-Love, Kevin L. Nadal, and Michele A. Paludi, editors

This book is dedicated to the women of the world, too many of whom lack reproductive justice, and to all of those individuals, agencies, and organizations that are engaged in the struggle to achieve and ensure it.

, Joy K. Rice, PhD

Joan C. Chrisler

Makiko Kasai and S. Craig Rooney

Virginia Braun

Kathryn L. Norsworthy, Margaret A. McLaren, and Laura D. Waterfield

Thema Bryant-Davis, Shaquita Tillman, and Pamela A. Counts

Nancy M. Sidun

Dionne P. Stephens, Vrushali Patil, and Tami L. Thomas

Nancy Felipe Russo and Julia R. Steinberg

Lisa R. Rubin and Aliza Phillips

Lynda M. Sagrestano and Ruthbeth Finerman

Sayaka Machizawa and Kayoko Hayashi

Ramaswami Mahalingam and Madeline Wachman

Ingrid Johnston-Robledo and Allison Murray

Janet Sigal, Florence L. Denmark, Amy Nadel, and Rebecca A. Petrie

Joan C. Chrisler

Michele A. Paludi

Because womens work is never done and is underpaid or unpaid or boring or repetitious and were the first to get fired and what we look like is more important than what we do and if we get raped its our fault and if we get beaten we must have provoked it and if we raise our voices were nagging bitches and if we enjoy sex were nymphos and if we dont were frigid and if we love women its because we cant get a real man and if we ask our doctor too many questions were neurotic and/or pushy and if we expect childcare were selfish and if we stand up for our rights were aggressive and unfeminine and if we dont were typical weak females and if we want to get married were out to trap a man and if we dont were unnatural and because we still cant get an adequate safe contraceptive but men can walk on the moon and if we cant cope or dont want a pregnancy were made to feel guilty about abortion and... for lots of other reasons we are part of the womens liberation movement.

Author unknown, quoted in The Torch, September 14, 1987

These sentiments underlie the major goals of Praegers book series, Womens Psychology:

1. Valuing women. The books in this series value women by valuing children and working for affordable child care; valuing women by respecting all physiques, not just placing value on slender women; valuing women by acknowledging older womens wisdom, beauty, aging; valuing women who have been sexually victimized and viewing them as survivors; valuing women who work inside and outside of the home; and valuing women by respecting their choices of careers, of whom they mentor, of their reproductive rights, their spirituality, and their sexuality.

2. Treating women as the norm. Thus the books in this series make up for womens issues typically being omitted, trivialized, or dismissed from other books on psychology.

3. Taking a non-Eurocentric view of womens experiences. The books in this series integrate the scholarship on race and ethnicity into womens psychology, thus providing a psychology of all women. Women typically have been described collectively, but we are diverse.

4. Facilitating connections between readers experiences and psychological theories and empirical research. The books in this series offer readers opportunities to challenge their views about women, feminism, sexual victimization, gender role socialization, education, and equal rights. These texts thus encourage women readers to value themselves and others. The accounts of womens experiences as reflected through research and personal stories in the texts in this series have been included for readers to derive strength from the efforts of others who have worked for social change on the interpersonal, organizational and societal levels.

A student in one of my courses on the psychology of women once stated:

I learned so much about women. Women face many issues: discrimination, sexism, prejudices... by society. Women need to work together to change how society views us. I learned so much and talked about much of the issues brought up in class to my friends and family. My attitudes have changed toward a lot of things. I got to look at myself, my life, and what I see for the future. (Paludi, 2002)

It is my hope that readers of the books in this series also reflect on the topics and look at themselves, their own lives, and what they see for the future.

Dr. Joan Chrislers book, Reproductive Justice: A Global Concern