Book Review: Happy Abortions: Our Bodies in the Era of Choice
| Author | Alana Farrell |
| DOI | 10.1177/0964663918822414 |
| Published date | 01 April 2019 |
| Date | 01 April 2019 |
272
Social & Legal Studies 28(2)
conventional jurisprudential issues, of the personality versus the territoriality of law for
instance, into technological and material matters of movement. She thereby displaces the
sovereignty and authority of (Anglo-Australian) common law, urging those to whom
such law belongs – or who belong to it – to take better care where they tread. In this way,
she herself returns to the question with which she begins: the age-old legal question of
how to conduct oneself well.
MARIANNE CONSTABLE
University of California at Berkeley, USA
Reference
Dorsett S and McVeigh S (2012) Jurisdiction. Abingdon: Routledge.
MILLER ERICA, Happy Abortions: Our Bodies in the Era of Choice. London: Zed Books, 2017, pp. 339,
IBSN 978-1-78699-130-0, £14.99 (pbk).
Since 2016, abortion activism has returned to the world stage. In the United Kingdom,
2017 marked the 50th anniversary of the Abortion Act 1967, and campaigns are ongoing
to decriminalize abortion by removing sections 58 and 59 of the Offenses Against the
Person Act 1861. In Ireland, in 2018, a referendum was held to remove the Eighth
Amendment to the Constitution. The majority voters voted in favour of repealing it,
removing the barrier for legislation to be enacted to enable wider abortion access.
Donald Trump, the President of the United States, reinstated the ‘Global Gag Rule’
which prevents US funding for NGOs that provide abortion services, or information
about those services. Protests are also ongoing in Argentina to decriminalize abortion up
to 14 weeks. Dr Erica Miller’s book, Happy Abortions: Our Bodies in the Era of Choice,
has arrived at an opportune moment for scholars looking to examine these and other
ongoing developments.
Miller’s book focuses on the Anglosphere, Australia in particular. She states that in
these more liberal climates, emotional ‘common-sense’ narratives around abortion have
emerged. These narratives contain both pro- and anti-choice rhetoric, often mixed
together. What this has resulted in is a particular view of what choosing to have an
abortion entails. It is described as a deeply distressing period of reflection where the
decision not to continue with a pregnancy is a traumatic one. These dominant narratives
ignore the fact that there are multiple pregnancy subjectivities. The leading question of
the book is what makes the idea of a happy abortion transgressive or unspeakable.
The opening chapter, An Emotional Choice, is a well mapped-out exploration of...
Social & Legal Studies 28(2)
conventional jurisprudential issues, of the personality versus the territoriality of law for
instance, into technological and material matters of movement. She thereby displaces the
sovereignty and authority of (Anglo-Australian) common law, urging those to whom
such law belongs – or who belong to it – to take better care where they tread. In this way,
she herself returns to the question with which she begins: the age-old legal question of
how to conduct oneself well.
MARIANNE CONSTABLE
University of California at Berkeley, USA
Reference
Dorsett S and McVeigh S (2012) Jurisdiction. Abingdon: Routledge.
MILLER ERICA, Happy Abortions: Our Bodies in the Era of Choice. London: Zed Books, 2017, pp. 339,
IBSN 978-1-78699-130-0, £14.99 (pbk).
Since 2016, abortion activism has returned to the world stage. In the United Kingdom,
2017 marked the 50th anniversary of the Abortion Act 1967, and campaigns are ongoing
to decriminalize abortion by removing sections 58 and 59 of the Offenses Against the
Person Act 1861. In Ireland, in 2018, a referendum was held to remove the Eighth
Amendment to the Constitution. The majority voters voted in favour of repealing it,
removing the barrier for legislation to be enacted to enable wider abortion access.
Donald Trump, the President of the United States, reinstated the ‘Global Gag Rule’
which prevents US funding for NGOs that provide abortion services, or information
about those services. Protests are also ongoing in Argentina to decriminalize abortion up
to 14 weeks. Dr Erica Miller’s book, Happy Abortions: Our Bodies in the Era of Choice,
has arrived at an opportune moment for scholars looking to examine these and other
ongoing developments.
Miller’s book focuses on the Anglosphere, Australia in particular. She states that in
these more liberal climates, emotional ‘common-sense’ narratives around abortion have
emerged. These narratives contain both pro- and anti-choice rhetoric, often mixed
together. What this has resulted in is a particular view of what choosing to have an
abortion entails. It is described as a deeply distressing period of reflection where the
decision not to continue with a pregnancy is a traumatic one. These dominant narratives
ignore the fact that there are multiple pregnancy subjectivities. The leading question of
the book is what makes the idea of a happy abortion transgressive or unspeakable.
The opening chapter, An Emotional Choice, is a well mapped-out exploration of...
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