Abortion and Mothering: Research, Stories, and Artistic Expressions

Overview

Abortion and Mothering: Research, Stories, and Artistic Expressions 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.

Reviews

"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

Author Biography

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. She has made the decision to not become a mother thus far in her life. 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.