Deconstructing Pregnancy: RU486, Seeing "Eggs," and the Ambiguity of Very Early Conceptions
Document Type
Review Article
Publication Date
1-1-2002
Journal / Book Title
Medical Anthropology Quarterly
Abstract
This article deconstructs previous notions of pregnancy. Using empirical data from French women's experience with RU486 for medical abortion, I demonstrate that very early and unwanted conceptions have an ambiguous quality. I illustrate an understanding of pregnancy as a reproductive continuum: these women understand pregnancy to include a stage where "eggs," and not fetuses, are present. I discuss how the use of RU486 creates new ways of knowing about the fetus, and I compare an understanding of the fetus by women using RU486 with previous understandings from ultrasound images, in utero photography, and the imagination. I demonstrate that women's embodied knowledge can expand the parameters of fetal discourse.
DOI
10.1525/maq.2002.16.1.92
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Gerber, Elaine, "Deconstructing Pregnancy: RU486, Seeing "Eggs," and the Ambiguity of Very Early Conceptions" (2002). Department of Anthropology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 58.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/anthropology-facpubs/58
