Document Detail


MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20857591     Owner:  HMD     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
This article examines the struggle over abortion law reform that preceded the enactment in 1975 of the first statutory law on abortion in South Africa. The ruling National Party government produced legislation intended to eliminate access to doctors willing to procure abortions in an attempt to prevent young, unmarried white women from engaging in premarital (hetero) sexual activity. It was also aimed at strictly regulating the medical profession’s actions with regards to abortion. The production of the abortion legislation was directly influenced by international struggles for accessible abortion and, more broadly, sexual liberation. The regime believed South Africa was being infiltrated by Western "immorality" and the abortion law was an attempt to buttress racist heteropatriarchal apartheid culture. Examining the abortion controversy highlights the global circulation of ideas about reproduction in the twentieth century and foregrounds a neglected dimension of the history of sexual regulation in apartheid South Africa: the disciplining and regulation of white female reproductive sexuality.
Authors:
Susanne M Klausen
Publication Detail:
Type:  Historical Article; Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of women's history     Volume:  22     ISSN:  1042-7961     ISO Abbreviation:  J Womens Hist     Publication Date:  2010  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-09-21     Completed Date:  2010-12-30     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  100968143     Medline TA:  J Womens Hist     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  39-63     Citation Subset:  Q    
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Abortion, Induced* / economics,  education,  history,  legislation & jurisprudence,  psychology
Cultural Characteristics
Government Regulation / history
History, 20th Century
Legislation as Topic* / history
Physician-Patient Relations
Prejudice
Public Policy* / economics,  history,  legislation & jurisprudence
Race Relations* / history,  legislation & jurisprudence,  psychology
Sexuality / ethnology,  history,  physiology,  psychology
Social Identification
South Africa / ethnology
Women's Health* / ethnology,  history
Women's Rights* / economics,  education,  history,  legislation & jurisprudence

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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