Hitler and the Abortion Debate. Issue 1 (June 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Steinem, Gloria
• Is Part Of: Antyajaa. Volume 1:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 41
• Page End: 56
• Publication Date: 2016-06
• Subjects: Abolition -- abortion -- patriarchy -- Hitler -- Equal Rights Amendment (ERA); Women -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Girls -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Feminism -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Marginality, Social -- India -- Periodicals; Marginality, Social -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Social change -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Social change -- India -- Periodicals; Women; Girls; Feminism; Marginality, Social; Social change; India; Developing counries; Periodicals; 305.40971724
• DOI: 10.1177/2455632716645969
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2455-6327

Abstract

As anti-abortion movement surges worldwide in sync with the rise of right wing politics, seeking to thwart feminists and the right to self, this article shows that this is not a new phenomenon. The author looks at Germany during the time of Hitler to deliberate upon the tension between reproductive choice as a right of an individual and the right of the state to impose. She focuses on how the anti-abortion movement is not just about the right to abortion but veils the right wing leadership's attempt to legitimize a militaristic, religious and 'back-to-basics' kind of patriotism; and a patriarchal state. She also engages with the concept of fear that is associated with the anti-abortion movement, particularly with a state endorsed anti-abortion movement, a fear of declining birth rate (especially that of the majority population's), a fear of declining 'racial purity'—and articulates how this whole idea should be understood as a form of injustice to both men and women.