| ID | 184296 |
| Title Proper | At the Borders of the Body Politic |
| Other Title Information | Fetal Citizens, Pregnant Migrants, and Reproductive Injustices in Immigration Detention |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | LEACH, BRITTANY R. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | To analyze intersecting power relations in reproductive and immigration politics, I examine Garza v. Hargan (an appellate case regarding unaccompanied immigrant minors’ abortion rights) alongside systemic injustices in immigration detention (e.g., exposure to miscarriage risks, coerced sterilization, shackling). These injustices, I argue, emerge from conflicts and compromises over fetal citizenship within the American radical right. Although pro-life and anti-immigrant discourses assume opposing logics of citizenship, respectively interpreting immigrants’ fetuses as “fetal citizens” or “anchor babies,” these contradictions are neutralized by two techniques. Debilitation (systematic degradation of a disposable population) enables the appearance of fetal protection to coexist with de facto exposure to death, injury, and risk. Paralegality (quasi-legal policy making by enforcement agents) allows situational shifts in the meaning of fetal citizenship and adjustments to the pro-life/anti-immigrant compromise. Both obscure culpability for reproductive injustice, reinforce interlocking oppressions, and control women’s bodies in order to control the body politic’s demographic future. |
| `In' analytical Note | American Political Science Review Vol. 116, No.1; Feb 2022: p.116 - 130 |
| Journal Source | American Political Science Review Vol: 116 No 1 |
| Key Words | Immigration detention ; Pregnant Migrants ; Reproductive Injustices |