Journal article
The Relationship Between Demedicalization and Criminalization in Reproductive Health
Health matrix, v 34, pp 217-260
01 Jan 2024
Abstract
After a successful home birth with a licensed certified professional midwife in early 2023, Temecia and Rodney Jackson decided to treat their newborn daughter’s jaundice with phototherapy at home, supervised by their midwife. Their pediatrician reported them to the Department of Family and Protective Services, who mobilized the police and fire departments to remove the baby and place her in foster care. Though the doctor, who had treated the family’s older children for twelve years, said the Jacksons “are very loving and they care dearly about their baby,” he disagreed with their decision-making and reported them to DFPS due to “their distrust for medical care and guidance.” This paper explores the relationship between demedicalization and criminalization in the context of reproductive health care, using a case study from Texas to illustrate how childbearing people are punished (or threatened with punishment) when perceived as challenging the authority of mainstream medicine. As the birth justice movement and consumer advocacy to improve maternity care inspire increased interest in community birth, midwifery care, doula support, and other alternatives to medicalized childbirth in the US, we can expect to see continued, and perhaps increased, reliance on criminalization to discipline pregnant people who resist over-medicalization—with punitive action disproportionately targeting Black women, poor women, and other vulnerable populations. This paper analyzes the Jackson family’s story in the context of sociological theories about demedicalization, highlighting the mutually reinforcing quality of the demedicalization of childbirth and the criminalization of pregnant people’s decision-making, and linking these dynamics more broadly to the surveillance of reproductive decision-making in the post-Dobbs era.
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Details
- Title
- The Relationship Between Demedicalization and Criminalization in Reproductive Health
- Creators
- Elizabeth Kukura
- Publication Details
- Health matrix, v 34, pp 217-260
- Publisher
- Case Western Reserve University School of Law
- Number of pages
- 44
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Thomas R. Kline School of Law
- Other Identifier
- 991021932803504721