Pregnancy Without Birth: A Feminist Philosophy of Miscarriage

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Pregnancy is so thoroughly entangled with birth and babies in the popular imagination that a pregnancy which ends in miscarriage consistently appears as a failure or a waste of time indeed, as not proper to pregnancy at all. But in this compelling book, Victoria Browne argues that reflection on miscarriage actually deepens and expands our understanding of pregnancy, forcing us to consider what pregnancy can amount to besides the production of a child. By exploring common themes within personal accounts of miscarriageincluding feelings of failure, self-blame and being stuck in limboPregnancy Without Birth critically interrogates teleological discourses and disciplinary ideologies that elevate birth as pregnancys natural and normal endpoint. As well as politicizing miscarriage as a feminist issue, the book articulates an alternative intercorporeal philosophy of pregnancy which embraces variation, invites us to sit with ambiguity, contingency and suspension, and enables us to see subjective agency in all pregnancies, even as they are shaped by biological, political and social forces beyond our personal control. What emerges is a relational feminist politics of full-spectrum solidarity, social justice and care (rather than individualized choice and responsibility), which breaks down presumed oppositions between pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth and live birth, and liberates pregnancy from reproductive futurism.

Reviews

Deftly weaving together insights from first-hand accounts, philosophical analyses, and the social sciences, Browne argues persuasively that birth-centric models of pregnancy necessarily fail to grasp the complex, ambiguous phenomenon that is miscarriage. Her careful and insightful analysis provides a welcome contribution to scholarly conversations on gender, embodiment, and reproductive subjectivity. * Ann J. Cahill, Professor of Philosophy, Elon University, USA *
Browne presents a vital call for solidarity in these times of increasing criminalization of pregnancy. Her understanding of agency is embodied and contextual, rather than a matter of straightforward choice. This compelling framework enables a relational politics of care for and among pregnant people, regardless of the results of a pregnancy. * Sarah LaChance Adams, Florida Blue Distinguished Professor, University of North Florida, USA *
Politicizing miscarriage as a feminist issue, and a question for philosophy, Pregnancy Without Birth breaks open the stigma and shame surrounding miscarriage and offers a powerful, timely and radical thesis about the politics of pregnancy, both with and without birth. A brilliantly argued and movingly written work. * Lisa Baraitser, Professor of Psychosocial Theory, Birkbeck, University of London, UK *

Author Bio

Victoria Browne is Reader in Political Theory at Oxford Brookes University, UK. She is co-author of Politics: An Introduction (3rd ed., 2018), author of Feminism, Time and Non-Linear History (2014) and has edited multiple volumes including Vulnerability and the Politics of Care (2021) and Motherhood in Literature and Culture (2017). She is also a member of the editorial collective Radical Philosophy.