Abortion, Motherhood, and Mental Health: Medicalizing Reproduction in the United States and Great Britian (Social Problems and Social Issues) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Centering on the claim that abortion can result in Post Abortion Syndrome, the author examines the "medicalization" of the abortion problem on both sides of the Atlantic. Lee points to contrasts in legal and medical dimensions of the abortion issue that make for some important differences, but argues that in both the United States and Britain, the PAS claim in fact constitutes an example of the limits to medicalization. She contends that examination of contests over PAS points not so much to demedicalization as to the construction of its alternative—motherhood—as a psychological ordeal. Centrally, Lee makes the case for looking to the social dimensions of mental health problems to account for and understand debates about what makes women ill.

Product Details

• Paperback: 293 pages
• Publisher: Aldine Transaction (December 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 020230681X
• ISBN-13: 978-0202306810
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,014,333 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, June 2, 2004

By	David Nolan (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

Lee's thesis - that the increased medicalization of women's reproductive lives has lead to a tendency to describe and explain such experiences with reference to mental illness and disease - is unique, and she argues it well and convincingly. In doing so, she exposes the similarities between the arguments of the antiabortion lobby and the arguments put forward by those who claim that giving birth can harm women's mental health, i.e. that both experiences - birth and abortion - can bring on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Lee goes so far as to say that motherhood is now regarded as the more problematized choice.

Fascinating book, well-written and definitely worth a read.