Techniques of Reproductive Governance: Regulating and Optimizing Motherhood under Neoliberalism

• In Event: 505 - Regular Session. Sociology of Reproduction: Reproductive Governance

Abstract

The field of reproductive health care is organized into silos, focusing on the seemingly discrete realms of family planning, pregnancy and birth, and maternal and infant health. In this paper, we examine these three domains by analyzing policy statements and best-practices guidelines from major health organizations in the United States. Using a social worlds framework (Clarke 2005), we analyze how particular forms and practices of reproduction are valued, as well as what gets prioritized, across the three silos. We are particularly attuned to three dimensions: time, population, and risk. For the temporal dimension, we examine the underlying ways in which reproductive health policies are framed and based on specific phases in the reproductive life course (e.g., preventing pregnancy, prenatal care, birth outcomes, and postpartum maternal and infant well-being); for the population dimension, we highlight the ways in which reproductive health policies emphasize women, mothers, fetuses, and/or infants; and for the risk dimension, we focus on which risks are emphasized (e.g., physical, medical, social) and where the emphasis is placed in discussions of the locus of control and management of reproductive risk (e.g., techniques of self-governance, social determinants of health). We argue that the persistent structure of silo-ing within the domain of reproductive health allows for the co-construction of reproductive bodies and reproductive values across different phases of reproduction that invariably normalize distinct temporal landscapes, population groups, and constructions of risk while rendering other issues invisible. We conclude by discussing the implications of reproductive silos for reproductive values under neoliberalism.

Authors

• Miranda R. Waggoner, Florida State University

• Emily S. Mann, University of South Carolina

• Patrick Ryan Grzanka, University of Tennessee