Invisible Labours - The Reproductive Politics of Second Trimester Pregnancy Loss in

Tracing women's experiences of miscarriage and termination for foetal anomaly in the second trimester, before legal viability, shows how such events are positioned as less 'real' or significant when the foetal being does not, or will not, survive. Invisible Labours describes the reproductive politics of this category of pregnancy loss in England. It shows how second trimester pregnancy loss produces specific medical and social experiences, revealing an underlying teleological ontology of pregnancy. Some women then use an alternative understanding of pregnancy based on kinship with the second trimester foetal being or baby to resist the erasure of their experience.

About the author

Aimee Louise Middlemiss is an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health, University of Exeter, UK. Her research interests include reproduction, death, personhood, kinship, embodiment, and gender.

Product details

• Authors: Aimee Louise Middlemiss
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 02.02.2024
• EAN: 9781805392576
• ISBN: 978-1-80539-257-6
• No. of pages: 256
• Series: Fertility, Reproduction and Sexuality: Social and Cultural Perspectives
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women's Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Abortion & Birth Control, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Ethical issues: abortion & birth control, Social and cultural anthropology, Medical Sociology, Ethical issues: abortion and birth control