Intersectionality as disarticulatory practice: Sex-Selective abortion and reproductive politics in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Many authors have argued that sex-selective abortion (SSA) poses a problem for defenders of reproductive choice: the notion that a woman has “freely chosen” to abort a female fetus becomes problematic when she faces compelling pressure to bear a male child. This argument reflects the broader concern of the reproductive justice movement that mainstream pro-choice discourse has defined “choice” in narrow, legalistic terms, and overlooks the barriers to reproductive choice often faced by poor women and women of color. This article examines recent debates surrounding a proposed ban on SSA in the United Kingdom. It finds that despite attempts by the ban’s proponents to make intersectional claims around gender, ethnicity, and class, their arguments also invoke xenophobia by constructing Indian migrants as a threat to “British” values of gender equality. Thus, the article suggests that the concept of disarticulation may fruitfully be used to make sense of such “intersectional” claims.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

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⁶ Hansard <http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/hansard/> for debates from 1988 to the present; Hansard 1805–2005 <http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/> for debates from 1805–2005.

⁷ SisterSong, “What is RJ?,” available online at: <http://sistersong.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=141>; see also Jael Silliman, Marlene Gerber Fried, Loretta Ross, and Elena R. Gutiérrez, Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2004).

⁸ SisterSong, <http://www.sistersong.net>.

⁹ Zakiya T. Luna, “‘The Phrase of the Day’: Examining Contexts and Co-optation of Reproductive Justice Activism in the Women’s Movement,” in Anna C. Snyder and Stephanie P. Stobbe (eds), Critical Aspects of Gender in Conflict Resolution, Peacebuilding, and Social Movements (Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing, 2011), pp. 219–246.

¹⁰ Susan Himmelweit, “More Than ‘A Woman’s Right to Choose’?” Feminist Review 29 (1988), p. 42.

¹¹ Rhonda Copelon, “From Privacy to Autonomy: The Conditions for Sexual and Reproductive Freedom,” in Marlene Gerber Fried (ed.), From Abortion to Reproductive Freedom: Transforming a Movement (Boston, MA: South End Press, 1990) p. 28.

¹² Rosalind Petchesky, “Reproductive Freedom: Beyond ‘A Woman’s Right to Choose’,” Signs 5:4 (1980), p. 667.

¹³ Ibid., 672.

¹⁴ Ibid., 664–665; Copelon, “From Privacy to Autonomy,” pp. 36–39.

¹⁵ Petchesky, “Reproductive Freedom,” p. 675.

¹⁶ Ibid., 670.

¹⁷ Rosalind Petchesky, Abortion and Woman’s Choice (London: Verso, 1986), p. 180.

¹⁸ See Dorothy E. Roberts, Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction and the Meaning of Liberty (New York: Pantheon Books, 1997), pp. 89–98; see also Dorothy E. Roberts, “Punishing Drug Addicts Who Have Babies: Women of Color, Equality, and the Right to Privacy,” Harvard Law Review 104:7 (1991), pp. 1419–1482.

¹⁹ Angela Hooton, “A Broader Vision of the Reproductive Rights Movement: Fusing Mainstream and Latina Feminism,” Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law 13:1 (2005), pp. 59–86.

²⁰ Roberts, Killing the Black Body, p. 5.

²¹ Carol Mason, “Cracked Babies and the Partial Birth of a Nation: Millennialism and Fetal Citizenship,” Cultural Studies 14:1 (2000), pp. 35–60.

²² Rachel Carlson, “A Gap in the Criminal Justice System, Creating a New Class of Felons in Pregnant Drug-Addicted Women, a State-by-State Analysis,” Mississippi Law Journal Supra 83 (March 2014), pp. 1–29.

²³ Joan C. Chrisler, “Introduction: A Global Approach to Reproductive Justice—Psychosocial and Legal Aspects and Implications,” William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law 20:1 (2014), pp. 1–24.

²⁴ Joan C. Chrisler, “A Reproductive Justice Approach to Women’s Health,” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 14:1 (2014), p. 205.

²⁵ Chrisler, “Introduction,” p. 4.

²⁶ Ibid., 4.

²⁷ Luna, “Phrase of the Day.”

²⁸ Gwyneth Lonergan, “Reproductive Justice and Migrant Women in Great Britain,” Women: A Cultural Review 23:1 (2012), pp. 26–45.

²⁹ Ibid., 39.

³⁰ Ibid., 33–38.

³¹ CIA, “Field Listing: Sex Ratio,” The World Factbook, available online at: <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2018.html>.

³² Mallika Kaur Sarkaria, “Lesson’s From Punjab’s ‘Missing Girls’: Toward a Global Feminist Perspective on ‘Choice’ in Abortion,” California Law Review 97:3 (2009), pp. 905–942.

³³ Cecilia Lai-Wan Chan, Eric Blyth, and Celia Hoi-yan Chan, “Attitudes to and Practices Regarding Sex-Selection in China,” Prenatal Diagnosis 26:7 (2006), pp. 610–613.

³⁴ BBC News, “China Reforms: One-Child Policy to be Relaxed,” November 15, 2013, available online at: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24957303>.

³⁵ Sarkaria, “Punjab’s Missing Girls,” p. 913.

³⁶ CIA, “Field Listing.”

³⁷ Ashley Bumgarner, “A Right to Choose? Sex-Selection in the International Context,” Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy 14:2 (2007), pp. 1293–1294.

³⁸ Rajani Bhatia, “Constructing Gender from the Inside Out: Sex-Selection Practices in the United States,” Feminist Studies 36:2 (2010), pp. 274–275.

³⁹ Ibid., 271.

⁴⁰ Sawitri Saharso, “Sex-Selective Abortion: Gender, Culture and Dutch Public Policy,” Ethnicities 5:2 (2005), pp. 248–266.

⁴¹ Lakshmi Gandhi, “Fight Against Sex-Selective Abortion Ban Successful in San Fran,” NBS News, September 17, 2014, available online at: <http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/fight-against-sex-selective-abortion-ban-successful-san-fran-n205356>.

⁴² Sylvie Dubuc and David Coleman, “An Increase in the Sex Ratio of Births to India-born Mothers in England and Wales: Evidence for Sex-Selective Abortion,” Population and Development Review 33:2 (2007), pp. 383–400; Adamos Adamou, Christina Drakos, and Sriya Iyer, “Missing Women in the United Kingdom,” IZA Journal of Migration 2:10 (2013), pp. 1–19.

⁴³ Department of Health, “Birth Ratios in England and Wales,” May 24, 2014, available online at: <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/analysis-of-male-to-female-birth-ratios-in-the-uk-2008-to-2012>.

⁴⁴ Cahal Milmo, “The Lost Girls: ‘If You Have a Girl, You Feel You’ve Let Your Husband Down,” The Independent, January 14, 2014, available online at: <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-lost-girls-if-you-have-a-girl-you-feel-youve-let-your-husband-down-9059570.html>.

⁴⁵ April Cherry, “A Feminist Understanding of Sex-Selective Abortion: Solely a Matter of Choice?” Wisconsin Women’s Law Journal 10:2 (1995), pp. 161–223.

⁴⁶ Rahila Gupta, “On Sex-Selective Abortion, We Must Not Make a Fetish of Choice,” The Guardian, October 8, 2013, available online at: <http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/08/sex-selective-abortion-choice-right-life>.

⁴⁷ Saharso, “Sex-Selective Abortion.”

⁴⁸ Ann Furedi, “You Can’t Be Pro-Choice Only When You Like the Choice,” spiked online, September 16, 2013, available online at: <http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/you_cant_be_pro_choice_only_when_you_like_the_choice/14032#.VPWfOnysXTo>.

⁴⁹ Ramaswami Mahalingam and Madeline Wachman, “Female Feticide and Infanticide: Implications for Reproductive Justice,” in Joan C. Chrisler (ed.), Reproductive Justice: A Global Concern (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012), pp. 251–268.

⁵⁰ Ibid., p. 264.

⁵¹ Nandini Oomman and Bela Ganatra, “Sex Selection: The Systematic Elimination of Girls,” Reproductive Health Matters 10:19 (2002).

⁵² Holly Watt, Claire Newell, and Zahra Khimji, “Abortion Investigation: Available on Demand—An Abortion if it’s a Boy You Wanted,” The Daily Telegraph, February 23, 2012, available online at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9099925/Abortion-investigation-Available-on-demand-an-abortion-if-its-a-boy-you-wanted.html>.

⁵³ Owen Bowcott, “Sex-Selective Abortion Allegations Unprovable, Says Top Prosecutor,” The Guardian, October 7, 2013, available online at: <http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/oct/07/sex-selective-abortion-allegations-prosecutor>.

⁵⁴ Steve Connor, “The Lost Girls: Illegal Abortion Widely Used by Some UK Ethnic Groups to Avoid Daughters 'Has Reduced Female Population by Between 1,500 and 4,700',” The Independent, January 15, 2014, available online at: <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-lost-girls-illegal-abortion-widely-used-by-some-uk-ethnic-groups-to-avoid-daughters-has-reduced-female-population-by-between-1500-and-4700-9059790.html>.

⁵⁵ Department of Health, “Birth Ratios,” pp. 11–12.

⁵⁶ Sheetal Parmar, “MPs Back Ban on Sex-Selective Abortion,” BBC News, November 4, 2014, available online at: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29891005>; Milmo, “The Lost Girls.”

⁵⁷ House of Commons, “Serious Crime Bill,” Notices of Amendments Given on Thursday January 22, 2015, available online at: <http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2014-2015/0116/amend/pbc1162201a.1479-1480.pdf>.

⁵⁸ Abortion Rights, “Statement on Sex-Selective Abortion,” January 2014, available online at: <http://test.abortionrights.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Statement%20on%20sex-selection%20abortion.pdf>.

⁵⁹ British Pregnancy Advisory Service, “BPAS Statement on Ten Minute Rule Bill on Sex-Selective Abortion,” November 4, 2014, available online at: <http://www.bpas.org/bpasknowledge.php?year=2014&npage=0&page=81&news=678>.

⁶⁰ Voice for Choice, “Briefing on the Sex Selection Amendment to the Serious Crime Bill,” February 2015, available online at: <http://vfc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/VFC-briefing-on-sex-selection.pdf>.

⁶¹ Southall Black Sisters, “SBS urges MPs to Examine Sex Selective Abortion Within a Safeguarding and not a Criminal Framework,” February 20, 2015, available online at: <http://www.southallblacksisters.org.uk/sbs-urges-mps-examine-sex-selective-abortion-within-safeguarding-criminal-framework/>.

⁶² IKWRO, “Why IKWRO Oppose the Proposed Amendments to the Serious Crime Bill to Criminalize Sex Selective Abortion,” February 18, 2015, available online at: <http://ikwro.org.uk/2015/02/amendments-criminalise-selective/>.

⁶³ Nadine Dorries in Hansard, HC Deb October 31, 2012 vol. 552 cc. 73–74.

⁶⁴ Fiona Bruce in Hansard, HC Deb February 23, 2015 vol. 593 c. 117.

⁶⁵ Fiona Bruce in Hansard, HC Deb April 16, 2013 vol. 561 c. 170.

⁶⁶ Emily Thornberry in Hansard, HC Deb October 9, 2013 vol. 568 cc. 102–103.

⁶⁷ Baroness Flather in Hansard, HL Deb April 3, 2014 vol. 753 c. 288.

⁶⁸ Lord Hunt in Hansard, HL Deb April 3, 2014 vol. 753 c. 290.

⁶⁹ Fiona Bruce in Hansard, HC Deb November 4, 2014 vol. 587 c. 679.

⁷⁰ David Burrowes in Hansard, HC Deb October 9, 2013 vol. 568 c. 90.

⁷¹ Sir Edward Leigh in Hansard, HC Deb October 9, 2013 vol. 568 c. 96.

⁷² Fiona Bruce in Hansard, HC Deb November 4, 2014 vol. 587 c. 677.

⁷³ Gandhi, “Fight Against Abortion Ban Successful.”

⁷⁴ Bhatia, “Constructing Gender.”

⁷⁵ Angela McRobbie, The Aftermath of Feminism: Gender, Culture and Social Change (London: Sage, 2009), Chapter 2.

⁷⁶ Fran Amery, “Solving the ‘Woman Problem’ in British Abortion Politics: A Contextualised Account,” British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Early View, available online at: <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-856X.12045/abstract>.

⁷⁷ Susan Faludi, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (New York: Three Rivers, 2006 [1991]), p. 414.

⁷⁸ Fran Amery, “Social Questions, Medical Answers: Contesting British Abortion Law,” Social Politics 21:1 (2014), pp. 26–49.

⁷⁹ Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics (London: Verso, 2001 [1985]); Stuart Hall, “Who Needs ‘Identity’?” in Paul du Gay, Jessica Evans, and Peter Redman (eds), Identity: A Reader (London: Sage, 2000), pp. 15–30.

⁸⁰ McRobbie, The Aftermath of Feminism, p. 26.

⁸¹ Ibid.

⁸² Lord Hunt in Hansard, HL Deb April 3, 2014 vol. 753 c. 290.

⁸³ Virginia Braun, “Female Genital Cutting Around the Globe: A Matter of Reproductive Justice?” in Joan C. Chrisler (ed.), Reproductive Justice: A Global Concern (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012), pp. 29–56.

⁸⁴ Ann Furedi, “Remaking the Case for a Woman’s Right to Choose,” spiked online, September 24, 2013, available online at: <http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/13563#.VSvPrfzF_To>.

⁸⁵ See, for example, Chrisler, “Introduction.”

⁸⁶ Petchesky, “Reproductive Freedom,” p. 675.