Twelfth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Control over reproduction is a basic right for all women that, in reality, is unavoidably linked to their social status. Women know that childbearing is not entirely a personal phenomenon; that the whole of society takes in interest in the potential child as well as the woman’s experience. When did a pregnancy become a matter for everyone? This paper describes how women’s bodies are a commodity in the struggles among states, religions, male heads of households, and private corporations. State abuses against reproductive rights have occurred both under right-wing and left-wing governments around the world. Even today, not all states accept the inclusion of reproductive rights in the suite of internationally recognized human rights. Social power structures tend to aim at either controlling women’s behavior directly, or using political decision making and policies to manipulate population growth in general. Both strategies affect the capacity of women to realize their reproductive health rights.