Abortion and Mothering: Research, Stories, and Artistic Expressions





Price: $39.95

Page Count: 212

Publication Date: December 2021

ISBN: 978-1-77258-355-7

Abortion and Mothering: Research, Stories, and Artistic Expressions of a Common Intersection is a collection of academic research, personal narratives, and art that comments on different perspectives on abortion and mothering. Scholarly research is balanced with voices and experiences from outside of academia, through the inclusion of personal narratives, poetry, and art. The collection is rooted in the idea that there are not ‘women who have abortions’ and ‘women who have babies’, but that they are the same women at different points in their lives. By considering the intersection of abortion and mothering, and the liminal spaces in between, the reader is challenged to explore some of the culturally and socially constructed complexities that surround the decisions that people make about to their reproductive lives.

*Abortion and Mothering *brings into focus what is often neglected in
discussions of abortion: That abortion is just one experience in the rich
complexity of women's reproductive lives. The essays and art contained in
this collection help us better understand this richness, and how abortion
experiences inform mothering and mothering informs abortion experiences. It
is this kind of attention that can help move us beyond black and white
debates into more nuanced understandings in our work for reproductive
rights.

- Jane Kirby, author of *Fired Up about Reproductive Rights*

Cover Art: The Reproduction Maze
Winnie T. Frick

Dedications

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Heather Jackson & Jessica Shaw

Mi Cuerpo, Mi Decisión (pennant 1)
Shaun Slifer & Rebecca Susman

Abortion: Mothering, Un-Mothering and the Liminal Space in Between
Miriam Rose Brooker

Protection (embroidery 1)
Victoria L Poole

Abortion Providers as Mothers, With Mothers
Jessica Shaw

Trust Women (pennant 2)
Shaun Slifer & Rebecca Susman

Goddess Recovers a Mistake
Alison Ojanen-Goldsmith

Our Bodies, Our Rights
Meredith Stern

Relief or Regret: The Emotional Implications of Abortion
Meredith Navarro-McCullar

Never Again (pennant 3)
Shaun Slifer & Rebecca Susman

Abortive Subjectivities
Laura Major

Mothering, Abortion, and the State: A Modern Orientation towards Values of Care
Christina Quinlan

Teaching daughters (and sons) that abortion is good
Heather Jackson

I Want to Get My Education Straight: The Impact of Pregnancy Decision Making of Contemporary Society and Cultural Expectations of Teenager
Sarah Bekaert

Light at the end (embroidery 2)
Victoria L Poole

Bad Mothers and Staunch Feminists: Genetic Abortions in Mommy Memoirs by Waldman and Beck
Mary Thompson

Teaching Students Abortion Rights Leads to More Rights For Them
Crystal Michels

the story of how i got pregnant
Heather Jackson

Contributor Notes

Heather Jackson, a former teen mom, is now a 30-something single mom of a teen. Currently, she works as a birth doula and an early childhood counselor in Rhode Island. She is co-editor of Feminist Parenting and of Motherhood and Social Exclusion, and her writing has been published by many different websites, books, and zines. She loves bike riding, going to the beach, playing guitar, going to shows, making zines (etsy shop: ramonegirl), and writing.

Jessica Shaw is a professor of social work at the University of Calgary (Alberta, Canada) a full-spectrum doula, and a director of Women Help Women (womenhelp.org) – an international feminist organization that supports abortion access in places where it is illegal or highly restricted. Jessica became a mother in 2021 and completed final edits of this book while babywearing her newborn.