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Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood
Policing the Womb brings to life the chilling ways in which women have become the targets of secretive state surveillance of their pregnancies. Michele Goodwin expands the reproductive health and rights debate beyond abortion to include how legislators increasingly turn to criminalizing women for miscarriages, stillbirths, and threatening the health of their pregnancies. The horrific results include women giving birth while shackled in leg irons, in solitary confinement, and even delivering in prison toilets. In some states, pregnancy has become a bargaining chip with prosecutors offering reduced sentences in exchange for women agreeing to be sterilized. The author shows how prosecutors may abuse laws and infringe women's rights in the process, sometimes with the complicity of medical providers who disclose private patient information to law enforcement. Often the women most affected are poor and of color. This timely book brings to light how the unrestrained efforts to punish and police women's bodies have led to the United States being the deadliest country in the developed world to be pregnant.
323 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
August 26, 2022
This book is wonderful but I had to pace myself because I became so enraged that I needed to close the book and calm down and absolutely do not send death threats to the pope.
January 15, 2023
This is an important book if you are concerned about women's rights and specifically reproductive rights. It is a very difficult read when you discover the horrendous treatment of pregnant women, particularly women of color and poor women. The insidious changes to laws in many states, giving the fetus rights over the women carrying said fetus, are changing the medical industry from doing no harm to participating in the prosecution of women. Many of these laws apply whether or not the fetus is considered viable or not. As the author states several times, the womb is merely being used as an incubator and the woman is not a person.
I struggled to finish this book (only 221 pages) as I would many of this length. I also debated between a 3 or 5 star rating. I would give it 5 stars for the content but the book is poorly edited (3 stars). So much so, I'm not sure this isn't a pre-publication version. The author is unnecessarily repetitive and makes certain statements many times before citing her source. So I settled on the middle ground of a 4.
The book was published in 2020 and the author accurately predicts the Trump SCOTUS overturning Roe and ignoring precedent. She really makes the point of how our country is regressing in regard to women's rights beyond the right to safe abortions. A must read.
I struggled to finish this book (only 221 pages) as I would many of this length. I also debated between a 3 or 5 star rating. I would give it 5 stars for the content but the book is poorly edited (3 stars). So much so, I'm not sure this isn't a pre-publication version. The author is unnecessarily repetitive and makes certain statements many times before citing her source. So I settled on the middle ground of a 4.
The book was published in 2020 and the author accurately predicts the Trump SCOTUS overturning Roe and ignoring precedent. She really makes the point of how our country is regressing in regard to women's rights beyond the right to safe abortions. A must read.
December 10, 2020
This book brought to light the ways in which women and girls are being oppressed in the name of law, but under a guise of protecting women’s health along with the health of their children (born or unborn). It’s scary. It’s thought provoking. It’s necessary. Now a gem for my shelf.
May 12, 2022
Extremely prescient, given the current attack on reproductive freedom. Goodwin is a lawyer and writes like one - not in a bad way, but providing legal details and facts from the cases that she analyzes. It's the cases that are wrenching. Consider the woman whose decomposing body was kept alive, despite her verified brain death, because she was pregnant. The indignities "pro-life" advocates would place on women all in the name of protecting fetuses are staggering. This book is for anyone who believes that draconian laws that govern reproduction are meant to protect women and children, and for those who know that they don't and never will.
December 24, 2022
At the core of this book there is a fascinating and horrifying body of research that was almost entirely new to me. Goodwin amasses evidence on new “fetal protection� laws, as well as the reinterpretation of old child abuse statutes to apply to fetuses, and reports on women whose lives have been destroyed by these laws. These include Bei Bei Shuai, who was convicted of killing her fetus after she attempted suicide by eating poison; Christine Taylor, who was accused of trying to induce abortion when she tripped on a staircase; Lisa Epstein, who was threatened with arrest if she refused to undergo a c-section; Samantha Burton, who was civilly confined after refusing a doctor’s orders of bed rest; and a large number of women, including Regina McKnight and Rennie Gibbs, who were convicted under laws that regard illicit drug use while pregnant as child abuse. Goodwin ties this trend to the “crack baby� panic of the 1980s and 1990s and shows how drug panic, crime panic, and growing restrictions on women’s reproductive rights have converged to criminalize large numbers of pregnant women. She reports extensively on a particularly horrifying case involving the Medical University of South Carolina, which in the early 1990s advertised low-cost services to pregnant women who were struggling with drug abuse. The university maintained a covert collaboration with the state prosecutor, Charles Condon, in order to easily report women seeking treatment for child abuse, and was even trained by personnel from the prosecutor’s office in techniques like how to collect evidence and guard chain of custody. Practices like this are harmful for fetuses and children in the long term, both because they are likely to push drug-using women who need treatment away from seeking it and because they result in pregnant women in prison, which is obviously terrible for their health and the health of their babies. Goodwin shares several horrifying stories of women being left to deliver babies in cells without medical aid or being shackled during prison. She also demonstrates a level of punitive cruelty in these prosecutions that obviously isn’t conducive to healthy children or families. Bei Bei Shuai, who was prosecuted in Indiana, was threatened with 45 years of imprisonment (although she took a plea bargain that allowed her to be free after less than two years). Before her, the last person who was prosecuted in Indiana for fetal death was a bank robber who shot a pregnant woman in the stomach and caused her to miscarry twins; prosecutors sought an eight year sentence. It seems obvious that the disparity comes from the state’s intention to punish women who don’t fulfill their proper childbearing role. The reverse side of this legally enforced motherhood is the appalling story of Marlise Munoz, who suffered a pulmonary embolism while pregnant and became braindead. Against the wishes of her husband and parents, the state of Texas forced her to remain on life support, essentially as a living incubator. Her husband described being able to smell her body decomposing in the hospital room. Thirty states have laws on the books limiting end-of-life care choices for pregnant women or invalidating women’s end-of-life directives in case of pregnancy. In another case that Goodwin documents, Angela Carder, a pregnant woman with cancer, died because she was prevented from going through chemotherapy because doctors and courts feared it would harm her fetus. Doctors forced her to undergo a c-section against her will before she could receive chemotherapy. Evidently, her medical team saw her as more valuable as an incubator than as a living person.
All of that is critical, necessary to read, and well-researched. Unfortunately, that's about two chapters, and the rest of the book has very little reason to exist. A lot of it retraces widely known legal history with minimal original analysis. There’s a weird mix of over- and under-explaining. Goodwin doesn’t make much effort to break down legal concepts for a lay audience. For example, in a section investigating pregnancy and the equal protection clause, she writes: “Modern Supreme Court application has involved three tiers of review: strict scrutiny of racial classifications (requiring the state’s regulation to further a compelling governmental interest); heightened intermediate scrutiny of sex discrimination (requiring that the legislation serve important governmental objectives and be substantially related to achieving those goals); and a rational relationship of review (requiring only a rational relationship to legitimate governmental ends).� The difference between those parentheticals isn’t clear to me, and maybe that’s because the imagined audience for this book is other lawyers, but that raises the question of why several pages before this Goodwin assumes that the reader wouldn’t have heard of the Dred Scott decision. There are citations for claims like “the U.S. contains 5% of the earth’s population� and “Jesse Helms was the author of the Helms amendment,� and extensive justifications for obvious claims like “you need research to develop medicine� (“In reality, research plays a vital role in expanding women’s reproductive healthcare options and promoting safety. Without medical research, many of the advancements in women’s healthcare would not exist. For example, the very existence of Plan B--one of the few medications now available in the United States that inhibit pregnancies after sex, including rape--is the result of medical research. Similarly, medication-based abortion, which can be safely performed at home through the administration of pills, reflects the progress of medical research in recent decades. Imagine, however, if these advancements did not exist due to bans on research.�), but then Goodwin drops bombshell claims like “state and federal officials have begun secretly monitoring the menstrual cycles of women and girls� with no citation or explanation. (Have they?? How??? How do we know this???) It’s also just sloppy and ugly to read: repetitive, disorganized, and full of Law School Prose transitions like “moreover� and “as such� that do not indicate any actual logical connection between sentences.
All of that is critical, necessary to read, and well-researched. Unfortunately, that's about two chapters, and the rest of the book has very little reason to exist. A lot of it retraces widely known legal history with minimal original analysis. There’s a weird mix of over- and under-explaining. Goodwin doesn’t make much effort to break down legal concepts for a lay audience. For example, in a section investigating pregnancy and the equal protection clause, she writes: “Modern Supreme Court application has involved three tiers of review: strict scrutiny of racial classifications (requiring the state’s regulation to further a compelling governmental interest); heightened intermediate scrutiny of sex discrimination (requiring that the legislation serve important governmental objectives and be substantially related to achieving those goals); and a rational relationship of review (requiring only a rational relationship to legitimate governmental ends).� The difference between those parentheticals isn’t clear to me, and maybe that’s because the imagined audience for this book is other lawyers, but that raises the question of why several pages before this Goodwin assumes that the reader wouldn’t have heard of the Dred Scott decision. There are citations for claims like “the U.S. contains 5% of the earth’s population� and “Jesse Helms was the author of the Helms amendment,� and extensive justifications for obvious claims like “you need research to develop medicine� (“In reality, research plays a vital role in expanding women’s reproductive healthcare options and promoting safety. Without medical research, many of the advancements in women’s healthcare would not exist. For example, the very existence of Plan B--one of the few medications now available in the United States that inhibit pregnancies after sex, including rape--is the result of medical research. Similarly, medication-based abortion, which can be safely performed at home through the administration of pills, reflects the progress of medical research in recent decades. Imagine, however, if these advancements did not exist due to bans on research.�), but then Goodwin drops bombshell claims like “state and federal officials have begun secretly monitoring the menstrual cycles of women and girls� with no citation or explanation. (Have they?? How??? How do we know this???) It’s also just sloppy and ugly to read: repetitive, disorganized, and full of Law School Prose transitions like “moreover� and “as such� that do not indicate any actual logical connection between sentences.
August 3, 2023
A well researched and well told exposition on the war against women by the aggressive patriarchy and the passive uninformed. Horrific and gruesome details in the systemic sexism that drives this country.
September 9, 2023
Listening to this audiobook has put me in a foul mood!
The author has appeared on TV a lot concerning recent abortion restriction legislation and talked about her upcoming book. This one. So I preordered it. And when I came up, I actually thought: Shit! Now I have to listen to it.
One quote that caught me off guard went like this� England has warned its citizens that America had criminalized pregnant women.
If you smoke, do drugs, ever done drugs, be near people who do drugs, drive erratically, take regularly prescribed medication in the manner it’s supposed to be taken, are suicidal, in an abusive relationship, fallen down or have a dangerous job while pregnant or have a miscarriage or stillbirth for any reason� you can be prosecuted. And they cite examples.
Such a heavy, long listen.
The author has appeared on TV a lot concerning recent abortion restriction legislation and talked about her upcoming book. This one. So I preordered it. And when I came up, I actually thought: Shit! Now I have to listen to it.
One quote that caught me off guard went like this� England has warned its citizens that America had criminalized pregnant women.
If you smoke, do drugs, ever done drugs, be near people who do drugs, drive erratically, take regularly prescribed medication in the manner it’s supposed to be taken, are suicidal, in an abusive relationship, fallen down or have a dangerous job while pregnant or have a miscarriage or stillbirth for any reason� you can be prosecuted. And they cite examples.
Such a heavy, long listen.
March 27, 2024
Extremely important read about women's rights and reproductive justice especially in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade and Alabama's IVF law. There are some parts that are pretty hard to read because it goes into detail about the horrors that women and especially women of color experience as a direct result of fetal protection laws, but it's the kind of discomfort that is necessary to sit with. I appreciated how intersectional this was in its approach and it was especially interesting to see where shortcomings in medicine and the law work together to ultimately, even if indirectly, oppress women. I'm giving this book 5 stars for the content and thorough research that went into it, but 3 stars for the editing because there were definitely parts that felt repetitive, some ideas were over or under explained, and the organization of some of the chapters felt disjointed.
March 15, 2024
Michele Goodwin tackles such a heavy and complex subject and couldn’t have done a better job. This book is so moving and is truly a must-read for anyone that wants to have an opinion about reproductive rights.
December 17, 2023
Painful & disturbing discussion of ignorant, racist policy making by US government entities and local law enforcement that continues to hold women down. I decided to read this following the recent Texas case of Kate Cox's request to terminate an unviable pregnancy that risked her own life. I do not understand how anyone - man or woman - can live in Texas, with its draconian view of women's rights. Of course, it's not just Texas, as Goodwin takes us through lawmakers' attacks on women of color and women in poverty across the country, with examples in Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Arkansas, and more. So many examples of women's lives lost or destroyed, and so many examples of court decisions that claimed to address one topic but which really just solidified the war on women. This book was written before Roe v. Wade was overturned, but the author certainly saw it coming.
March 25, 2024
Excellent text looking at RJ and the harms of the state from the legal side
September 15, 2024
Very academic (so a little dry) but powerful.
September 17, 2022
I learned so much by reading this book by Michele Goodwin (law professor at the University of Califorina, Irvine). It was not an uplifting book to read, but it was an impressive review of the issues around reproductive health/rights and how those issues intersect with race, class, and of course, gender. This book was well-researched and cited so it tended to be on the academic side, but it was more manageable to read due to the powerful and effective inclusion of personal stories (almost all legal cases).
This book stunned me so many times. It would be lengthy to list all of the instances, but I will mention a few. One that particularly stood out to me was that the United States has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the developed world. For example, nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, and Libya have lower maternal mortality rates than the United States. Goodwin stated, "For those who have paid attention, this does not come as a surprise." I humbly admit that I was surprised. Even more disconcerting is how the maternal mortality rate is four times higher for Black women than for white women.
There were other disturbing examples of medical doctors/nurses reporting private patient information to the police, or of incarcerated, pregnant women being ignored or shackled during childbirth. There were also cases where the wishes of a mother with cancer or another mother's family (when she was brain dead with decaying organs) were not honored because of a fetus. In fact, I was surprised to learn that in Wisconsin a women's advance directive is invalidated if she is pregnant.
One of the best things about this book was how it framed the larger issues at stake. Some may think the book is about abortion (it actually was written before the Dobbs decision). While it did discuss abortion, the author made the strong case that what is at stake is much bigger. Essentially, we have to care about ALL issues related to reproductive health before, during, and after pregnancy and that women deserve privacy, liberty, autonomy, and dignity. Furthermore, for those that are pro-life, Goodwin illustrated many issues beyond abortion that activists could/should champion to ensure the health of mothers and future babies.
For anyone wanting to be well-informed about reproductive health issues at both the micro and macro level, this book will help in that education. The author often approached issues with a legal lens, but she also exposed how the poor and people of color (especially Black women) are most affected. Her evidence and arguments were strong and well-supported and supplemented with persuasive and compelling stories.
This book stunned me so many times. It would be lengthy to list all of the instances, but I will mention a few. One that particularly stood out to me was that the United States has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the developed world. For example, nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, and Libya have lower maternal mortality rates than the United States. Goodwin stated, "For those who have paid attention, this does not come as a surprise." I humbly admit that I was surprised. Even more disconcerting is how the maternal mortality rate is four times higher for Black women than for white women.
There were other disturbing examples of medical doctors/nurses reporting private patient information to the police, or of incarcerated, pregnant women being ignored or shackled during childbirth. There were also cases where the wishes of a mother with cancer or another mother's family (when she was brain dead with decaying organs) were not honored because of a fetus. In fact, I was surprised to learn that in Wisconsin a women's advance directive is invalidated if she is pregnant.
One of the best things about this book was how it framed the larger issues at stake. Some may think the book is about abortion (it actually was written before the Dobbs decision). While it did discuss abortion, the author made the strong case that what is at stake is much bigger. Essentially, we have to care about ALL issues related to reproductive health before, during, and after pregnancy and that women deserve privacy, liberty, autonomy, and dignity. Furthermore, for those that are pro-life, Goodwin illustrated many issues beyond abortion that activists could/should champion to ensure the health of mothers and future babies.
For anyone wanting to be well-informed about reproductive health issues at both the micro and macro level, this book will help in that education. The author often approached issues with a legal lens, but she also exposed how the poor and people of color (especially Black women) are most affected. Her evidence and arguments were strong and well-supported and supplemented with persuasive and compelling stories.
July 16, 2022
This book is far more about how the criminalization of crack consumption affects poor pregnant mothers, and the whole issue of imprisonment and maternity, than it is about abortion as such, although Goodwin does explore legal abortion thoroughly, and repeatedly proves that it is a very safe procedure both physically and psychologically. Goodwin explores the ways in which hospitals are conscripted by the state to share evidence of drug consumption which leads to immediate arrest, and firmly disputes the myth of the dysfunctional "crack baby," insisting that in any event cigarette and alcohol consumption are at least as harmful but remain legal because they are profitable. Pregnancy makes women, even rich white women, particularly vulnerable to male control--Goodwin offers as an example a talk she gives to affluent white women who have had terrible experiences with their doctors, even being threatened with arrest if they will not comply with mandatory bed rest or pre-natural labor cesarians. She explores the phenomenon of "fetal protection laws," originated perhaps to combat domestic violence but now weaponized against women. She details women prosecuted for still births and miscarriages, even though still birth is relatively common and poor women tend to live in toxic environments. She combats the standard of a perfect birth, particularly when medical providers who are supposed to nurture the poor woman in pre-natal care may rightly be perceived, and avoided, as potential informants to the criminal justice system.
October 25, 2020
This is one of the most detailed and eye-opening books on the topic I've ever read. Outstanding research by an incredibly intelligent and articulate professor.
January 31, 2021
Harrowing and incredibly thorough
April 26, 2024
“Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood� by Michelle Goodwin is the type of in-depth study that is impossible to summarize and still feel that one has even begun to do justice. I have dozens of book-marked pages that I’m tempted to return to and quote, but to do so would certainly make this review excessive and unwieldy. However, I will quote from her Introduction:
“For all the handwringing and legislating in the United States � restricting information and rights available to girls and women and claiming moral authority over pregnancies � the results are devastating for women, their families and the economy.�(page 5)
Goodwin then goes on, throughout a 220 page treatise, with an equivalent volume of notes, to explicate this basic theme. There is an extremely biased approach, based on the male-dominated policing and court systems, to apply supposed “remedies� to the conception, gestation, delivery, and subsequent outcomes of parenting which are in fact the exact opposite of support and protection of childbirth and motherhood. The fact is that the well-being of women during their pregnancies and deliveries, far from being protected, is all too often negated by law-enforcement endeavors. Most horrifying, in a mistaken application of fetal protection laws to attempt to enforce the “war on drugs�, women who go to prenatal clinics are often literally turned over to the police by doctors and nurses. What should be protected medical information is used to incarcerate pregnant women, a process of illegal search and seizure completely abrogating their Constitutional rights. It is not necessary in many jurisdictions to PROVE harm to a fetus or infant due to mother’s use of an illicit substance; the mere suspicion that it may exist results in punitive measures of the most draconian variety. This has the effect of not only destroying a family, often removing the mother from caring for her current children and forcing them into foster placement; it also obviously discourages other women from seeking needed prenatal care if they fear their privacy will not be respected and punitive measures applied.
One of the major points the author makes is that it is in fact poverty, not actual neglect or substance abuse on the part of the mother, which leads to endangerment of a fetus, contributing to tragic outcomes such as miscarriage and stillbirth. She cites numerous studies indicating the deleterious effects of environment, such as toxic waste dumps located near the poorest neighborhoods, which often contribute to premature birth and/or significant defects in the children. As just one example, she explains:
“For example, the largest hazardous waste landfill in the United States is located in Emelle, Alabama, a part of Sumter County.� (p. 138)
She goes on to explain that Alabama’s especially punitive fetal endangerment law is applied mercilessly to the African American women of that area who do, in fact, experience an exceptionally high percentage of negative outcomes during pregnancy and childbirth. Even though these women may use drugs or alcohol to alleviate some of the misery induced by a toxic environment, there is no evidence that it is THEIR actions, and not the environment itself (which is not their fault) that leads to those negative outcomes.
Overall, this book is deeply disturbing, because it presents extremely compelling evidence that there is an extraordinarily painful injustice being perpetrated on women � especially women of color � as they attempt to engage in responsible reproductive activities in the face of extreme odds. It deserves to be taken very seriously, and should definitely cause the revision of biased, punitive, and destructive legislation. Although I initially read this book over 2 years ago, political circumstances are such now that I believe a revisitation is essential, and Goodwin has, thankfully, been recently interviewed to that purpose.
“For all the handwringing and legislating in the United States � restricting information and rights available to girls and women and claiming moral authority over pregnancies � the results are devastating for women, their families and the economy.�(page 5)
Goodwin then goes on, throughout a 220 page treatise, with an equivalent volume of notes, to explicate this basic theme. There is an extremely biased approach, based on the male-dominated policing and court systems, to apply supposed “remedies� to the conception, gestation, delivery, and subsequent outcomes of parenting which are in fact the exact opposite of support and protection of childbirth and motherhood. The fact is that the well-being of women during their pregnancies and deliveries, far from being protected, is all too often negated by law-enforcement endeavors. Most horrifying, in a mistaken application of fetal protection laws to attempt to enforce the “war on drugs�, women who go to prenatal clinics are often literally turned over to the police by doctors and nurses. What should be protected medical information is used to incarcerate pregnant women, a process of illegal search and seizure completely abrogating their Constitutional rights. It is not necessary in many jurisdictions to PROVE harm to a fetus or infant due to mother’s use of an illicit substance; the mere suspicion that it may exist results in punitive measures of the most draconian variety. This has the effect of not only destroying a family, often removing the mother from caring for her current children and forcing them into foster placement; it also obviously discourages other women from seeking needed prenatal care if they fear their privacy will not be respected and punitive measures applied.
One of the major points the author makes is that it is in fact poverty, not actual neglect or substance abuse on the part of the mother, which leads to endangerment of a fetus, contributing to tragic outcomes such as miscarriage and stillbirth. She cites numerous studies indicating the deleterious effects of environment, such as toxic waste dumps located near the poorest neighborhoods, which often contribute to premature birth and/or significant defects in the children. As just one example, she explains:
“For example, the largest hazardous waste landfill in the United States is located in Emelle, Alabama, a part of Sumter County.� (p. 138)
She goes on to explain that Alabama’s especially punitive fetal endangerment law is applied mercilessly to the African American women of that area who do, in fact, experience an exceptionally high percentage of negative outcomes during pregnancy and childbirth. Even though these women may use drugs or alcohol to alleviate some of the misery induced by a toxic environment, there is no evidence that it is THEIR actions, and not the environment itself (which is not their fault) that leads to those negative outcomes.
Overall, this book is deeply disturbing, because it presents extremely compelling evidence that there is an extraordinarily painful injustice being perpetrated on women � especially women of color � as they attempt to engage in responsible reproductive activities in the face of extreme odds. It deserves to be taken very seriously, and should definitely cause the revision of biased, punitive, and destructive legislation. Although I initially read this book over 2 years ago, political circumstances are such now that I believe a revisitation is essential, and Goodwin has, thankfully, been recently interviewed to that purpose.
December 11, 2024
An absolutely phenomenal and brilliant catalogue of the deep misogyny that anchors our country's legislation and jurisprudence around girls and women, and their bodies. This is an essential companion piece to Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow." This book is similarly enraging in describing how so many of the policies governing girls and women who are sexually assaulted or who become pregnant are governed by a punitive, "the cruelty is the point" attitude.
The stories in this book are shocking: nurseries operating in jails, women who get an abortion who are then charged with depraved heart murder under feticide statutes; incarcerated women who are forced to give birth while shackled; medical professionals who turn pregnant women with positive tox screens over to law enforcement, to be arrested and prosecuted; rape victims who are mocked by the judges presiding over their case. And this was all before the Dobbs decision, since this book was published in 2020.
Full disclosure: I worked as a research assistant for Professor Goodwin while in law school, compiling child sexual abuse legislation around the country. It was an upsetting topic to work on, and yet I had no idea at the time how much deeper the cruelty and punishment against women really goes.
The stories in this book are shocking: nurseries operating in jails, women who get an abortion who are then charged with depraved heart murder under feticide statutes; incarcerated women who are forced to give birth while shackled; medical professionals who turn pregnant women with positive tox screens over to law enforcement, to be arrested and prosecuted; rape victims who are mocked by the judges presiding over their case. And this was all before the Dobbs decision, since this book was published in 2020.
Full disclosure: I worked as a research assistant for Professor Goodwin while in law school, compiling child sexual abuse legislation around the country. It was an upsetting topic to work on, and yet I had no idea at the time how much deeper the cruelty and punishment against women really goes.
March 31, 2024
I thought I was well-informed about reproductive freedom and women’s healthcare. I have a Master’s Degree in Women’s Studies. I have fought for Roe v. Wade in 3 states. I am very well read. I lobbied for Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women. I am 70 years old.
This book shocked me at nearly every turn. Written and published before the Dobbs Decision that reversed Roe v. Wade, it portends it throughout. The way that the judicial system treats women—especially women of color—is unconscionable. No woman should tolerate this. No man should tolerate this. No one should vote for a Republican EVER.
Stories of women being imprisoned for supposedly harming their unborn babies. Forced to give birth in shackles and handcuffs. It was very difficult to read this book. I am angrier than ever. I am horrified.
Racism and misogyny are plagues in our society and we cannot shut our eyes to it.
This book shocked me at nearly every turn. Written and published before the Dobbs Decision that reversed Roe v. Wade, it portends it throughout. The way that the judicial system treats women—especially women of color—is unconscionable. No woman should tolerate this. No man should tolerate this. No one should vote for a Republican EVER.
Stories of women being imprisoned for supposedly harming their unborn babies. Forced to give birth in shackles and handcuffs. It was very difficult to read this book. I am angrier than ever. I am horrified.
Racism and misogyny are plagues in our society and we cannot shut our eyes to it.
July 18, 2024
A pretty informative but depressing listen if you are someone who has a uterus and the ability to reproduce, or if you love anybody that does. Dang. The epilogue was hard to listen to, even more than the rest of the read which basically tells me that in the eyes of legislators, I will always be less than.
I appreciated the explanation of terminology and the presentation of facts. It is a little dated because it was published before the repeal of Roe v Wade (I think…or so parts seemed.) but it is still relevant.
Dang.
I appreciated the explanation of terminology and the presentation of facts. It is a little dated because it was published before the repeal of Roe v Wade (I think…or so parts seemed.) but it is still relevant.
Dang.
December 2, 2023
Some pretty incredible statistics being shared in this book, and crazy to hear about the extent of womb policing and by that woman-controlling happening in the States. Very sad to read this book, whilst very important to be aware of this to give more autonomy back to a woman, instead of regressing back to the times of men ruling the society and making all the decisions, including about a woman's body.
November 22, 2022
This book takes a deep dive into the horrifying issues faced by women today in the US. It humanizes the many legal cases surrounding reproductive freedom by telling the stories of the women who were involved in them. I highly recommend reading this book if you want to educate yourself. I will say, this book is an emotionally heavy read so I suggest reading it slowly and taking breaks.
June 28, 2022
Everything in this book was happening to women when we ostensibly HAD the right to abortion. That right is now gone. If you want to know what a post-Roe world looks like, read Michele Goodwin's book.
October 23, 2022
Amazing book. Everyone with a womb or who identifies as a woman should read it to gain an understanding of the law and how it’s structured in the US, and includes how over policed women are in poor, black and brown communities. Everyone else should read it for the same understanding.
October 17, 2023
This book is heavy on statistics which aren’t necessarily bad, but when listening to a book it is akin to drinking from a firehose. That said, it is 100 PERCENT worth reading. Jaw-dropping, enraging, terrifying and tragic.
Every woman in America should read this. Maybe every woman in the world.
Every woman in America should read this. Maybe every woman in the world.
February 2, 2024
infuriatingly informational and eye-opening. This author does an amazing job of moving beyond the discussion of abortion to emphasize the criminalization of women and simultaneously address issues of race and class on these topics. 10/10. down with the patriarchy and legal system.
May 13, 2022
A must read for any woman who desires to be in charge of her own body.
December 19, 2022
incredibly disturbing but important
Read
April 4, 2023this was a very difficult book to read and it had a lot of heavy topics, but it was definitely filled with a lot of important information.
October 26, 2023
another thesis read, SO good, criminalization of pregnancy goes far beyond prosecuting abortion
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