"To Choose Freely and Responsibility": Race, The Family and the "Right to Choose" in Birth Control Programmes Before Roe vs. Wade.

The dissertation argues that although in contemporary America, the concept of women having an individual and constitutional "right to choose" is central to the abortion rights and pro birth control movement; before the 1973 Roe versus Wade decision, birth control was advocated less as a wo...

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Main Author: Russell, Clare
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2006
Online Access:http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/20647/
http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/20647/1/dissertation.pdf
id nottingham-20647
recordtype eprints
spelling nottingham-206472018-03-09T20:00:20Z http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/20647/ "To Choose Freely and Responsibility": Race, The Family and the "Right to Choose" in Birth Control Programmes Before Roe vs. Wade. Russell, Clare The dissertation argues that although in contemporary America, the concept of women having an individual and constitutional "right to choose" is central to the abortion rights and pro birth control movement; before the 1973 Roe versus Wade decision, birth control was advocated less as a woman's individual right. Instead, the legalisation and promotion of birth control methods and programmes was justified in terms of its benefits for society and for establishing stable family structures. Furthermore, discourse on the birth control promotion could not escape prevalent racial issues. In the 1920s, Margaret Sanger argued that small family size would ensure healthy, happy children who were essential for the development of the American race, while in the 1960s social scientists and policymakers like Daniel Patrick Moynihan argued that birth control could ensure that black families conformed to the white middle class norms. However, although "choice" was far from the central rationale behind birth control promotion, case studies of birth control programmes indicate that not only were they voluntary, they also took steps to create "enabling conditions" which guaranteed women's rights to choose. 2006 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/20647/1/dissertation.pdf Russell, Clare (2006) "To Choose Freely and Responsibility": Race, The Family and the "Right to Choose" in Birth Control Programmes Before Roe vs. Wade. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] (Unpublished)
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description The dissertation argues that although in contemporary America, the concept of women having an individual and constitutional "right to choose" is central to the abortion rights and pro birth control movement; before the 1973 Roe versus Wade decision, birth control was advocated less as a woman's individual right. Instead, the legalisation and promotion of birth control methods and programmes was justified in terms of its benefits for society and for establishing stable family structures. Furthermore, discourse on the birth control promotion could not escape prevalent racial issues. In the 1920s, Margaret Sanger argued that small family size would ensure healthy, happy children who were essential for the development of the American race, while in the 1960s social scientists and policymakers like Daniel Patrick Moynihan argued that birth control could ensure that black families conformed to the white middle class norms. However, although "choice" was far from the central rationale behind birth control promotion, case studies of birth control programmes indicate that not only were they voluntary, they also took steps to create "enabling conditions" which guaranteed women's rights to choose.
format Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
author Russell, Clare
spellingShingle Russell, Clare
"To Choose Freely and Responsibility": Race, The Family and the "Right to Choose" in Birth Control Programmes Before Roe vs. Wade.
author_facet Russell, Clare
author_sort Russell, Clare
title "To Choose Freely and Responsibility": Race, The Family and the "Right to Choose" in Birth Control Programmes Before Roe vs. Wade.
title_short "To Choose Freely and Responsibility": Race, The Family and the "Right to Choose" in Birth Control Programmes Before Roe vs. Wade.
title_full "To Choose Freely and Responsibility": Race, The Family and the "Right to Choose" in Birth Control Programmes Before Roe vs. Wade.
title_fullStr "To Choose Freely and Responsibility": Race, The Family and the "Right to Choose" in Birth Control Programmes Before Roe vs. Wade.
title_full_unstemmed "To Choose Freely and Responsibility": Race, The Family and the "Right to Choose" in Birth Control Programmes Before Roe vs. Wade.
title_sort "to choose freely and responsibility": race, the family and the "right to choose" in birth control programmes before roe vs. wade.
publishDate 2006
url http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/20647/
http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/20647/1/dissertation.pdf
first_indexed 2018-09-06T11:04:44Z
last_indexed 2018-09-06T11:04:44Z
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