{"id":1608,"date":"2012-06-19T19:50:29","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T19:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/?page_id=1608"},"modified":"2025-09-15T11:19:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T10:19:04","slug":"pregnancy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/parentingculturestudies\/research-themes\/pregnancy\/","title":{"rendered":"The politics of pregnancy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Family planning\u2019 is a long-established social norm explored through our research about\u00a0pregnancy prevention<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(abortion and contraception);\u00a0assisted conception\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>the interactions between\u00a0parenting culture and reproductive technologies<\/a><\/strong>; and in our\u00a0programme of discussions<\/a><\/strong>. Our research has also always recognised that parenting culture works to ‘extend parenting backwards’, to include pregnancy and also the ‘pre-conception period’, raising some important problems. We have continually drawn attention to how pregnancy (and the time\u00a0pre-conception<\/em>) become subject to the impulse of parental determinism. This happens through claims about just how much the time before birth determines outcomes for both individuals and society, and our research has explored the consequent growth of risk discourse based around promoting\u00a0medicalised and moralised rules about pregnancy.<\/a> <\/strong>You can catch up on discussion about this from our events on Policing Pregnancy. \u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Read on:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 1967 Abortion Act fifty years on: Abortion, medical authority and the law revisited\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Constructing abortion as a social problem: \u201cSex selection\u201d and the British abortion debate\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Assessing child welfare under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008: a case study in medicalisation?\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

After the \u2018need for \u2026 a father\u2019: \u2018the welfare of the child\u2019 and \u2018supportive parenting\u2019 in assisted conception clinics in the UK\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From scientific article to press release to media coverage: advocating alcohol abstinence and democratising risk in a story about alcohol and pregnancy\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Beyond \u2018the choice to drink\u2019 in a UK guideline on FASD: the precautionary principle, pregnancy surveillance, and the managed woman<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fertile connections: Thinking across assisted reproductive technologies and parenting culture studies<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>In the Pregnancy research theme:<\/h2>\n