Lawful Sins

Lawful Sins reorients reigning perspectives in medical and feminist anthropology that celebrate reproductive rights as a hallmark of women's citizenship in liberal societies. By challenging the application of a liberal rights framework to Mexican abortion, the book uncovers an apparently contradictory situation--the state's increased surveillance of women's bodies precisely in the context of their presumed liberation. Through an analysis of the politics of clinical encounters in Mexico City's public abortion program and an exploration of the limits of state care and recognition afforded there, the book offers a critical account of the relationship between reproductive rights, gendered citizenship, morality, and public healthcare--