INVENTING 'REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS': SEX, BODIES AND POPULATION, 1945-1995

The choice as to whether to have children, when and with whom as an undeniable human right is nowadays broadly accepted across the globe. How did it come to be so? History shows us that this idea is by no means self-evident, and that its emergence was neither inevitable nor without conflict.

Between 1945 and the 1990s, novel ideas regarding reproductive choice and bodily autonomy were contested and negotiated, leading to what today we call 'reproductive rights' as set of political, legal and medical principles.

'Inventing Reproductive Rights' will create new insight into the historical contexts in which the notion of reproductive rights has developed since 1945 and up to the mid-1990s, when 'reproductive health and rights' were inscribed into UN human rights. It traces shifts in sexual culture, gender roles, demography, and medical practices. The project deals with 'family planning', contraception and abortion, focusing on campaigning groups, experts, and policy-makers.

Two key hypotheses underpin the project. Firstly, the emergence of reproductive rights ideas did not diminish the attempts by a range of actors at intervening in individuals' reproductive choices, but rather reframed such interventions. Secondly, it created new ways for individuals to exercise reproductive agency.

These arguments are illustrated by focusing on three developments: medicalisation, or the growing role played by medical institutions in intervening in the reproductive body; feminisation, or the growing understanding that women rather than men are the key agents of reproductive planning; and the social hierarchy of reproductive bodies, or the framing of some bodies as more worthy of procreation than others, as based on social class, 'race', and ability.

The project builds on innovative scholarship on the Global South to present a globally connected analysis, with particular focus on Europe. Challenging the assumption that reproductive rights emerged solely in a liberal-democratic context, the project integrates communist Eastern and democratic Western Europe. The PI's research focuses on the UK and Italy, while a Research Associate studies Yugoslavia.

The three countries reflect wider phenomena such as sexual modernisation and women-centred activism. They are distinguished by, for instance, the power of the Catholic culture in defining cultural norms (Italy); the relatively early liberalisation of contraception and abortion (UK), or the state's attempts to globally present itself as a champion for reproductive rights (Yugoslavia).

The project is underpinned by an interdisciplinary conversation between the PI and established and early career scholars in History, Social Science, Law, and Medical Humanities. A monograph by the PI will provide the starting point for wider debate at two major international conferences, and the project will result in a Special Issue.

Contemporary debates and practices of reproductive rights continue to be framed by historical developments; therefore, historical awareness is needed to understand the obstacles to full reproductive justice today. We collaborate with young people in the Glasgow area and Sandyford Sexual Health Services (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde) to create new insight into young people's experiences and values regarding reproductive rights, focusing on gender relations, access to services, and socio-cultural context.

Our outputs - a large-scale survey among young people, small-group discussion, and an educational comic strip - will feed into Sandyford's policy recommendations to the Scottish Government. More broadly, they will benefit NHS professionals and youth, community and educational services around the UK. We envisage these outputs as building blocks towards a Reproductive Justice Education agenda: educating those working with young people, giving voice to the latter, and interpreting their experiences.