When the private becomes political: the politics of having children

In my book I examine how political ideology on abortion - expressed in the Hungarian abortion debate of 2010-2012 - impacts the distribution of related resources, and how this distribution in turn effects that ideology. To understand the interaction of abortion practice and policy I utilize a multilayered analysis, utilizing a biopolitical and a feminist approach and viewing the issue on a national and international level as well. Through a biopolitical analysis, I argue that in the abortion debate women are configured as mothers, primarily reproductive citizens responsible for reproducing the nation. Abortion as an issue isn't a literal issue, but serves as a subject through which the state legitimizes itself as having the authority of defining public friends and enemies. In my second approach, I examine the interaction of contemporary Hungarian ideologies on abortion policy and abortion practice, and the disconnect between these elements.

Autorentext

Sara Vitrai, B.A. in Social Studies, M.A. in Gender Studies from Central European University. My research interests and works are written on state influence on women's reproductive rights and its implications for public policy, from a biopolitical and a feminist perspective; studies of medical science and eugenics.