Conceiving Life: Reproductive Politics and the Law in Contemporary Italy

The question at the heart of this book how and why women's bodies emerge as sites of conflict about nation, community and identity is an important and timely one. Hanafin's response, arrived at through an analysis of the evolution of the law regulating reproduction in Italy, will offer much of interest to anyone who cares about law and gender, reproductive rights, or'The question at the heart of this book how and why women's bodies emerge as sites of conflict about nation, community and identity is an important and timely one. Hanafin's response, arrived at through an analysis of the evolution of the law regulating reproduction in Italy, will offer much of interest to anyone who cares about law and gender, reproductive rights, or national identity.Sally Sheldon, Kent Law School, UK national identity.This volume examines the evolution of reproductive law in Italy from the 'far west' of the 1980s and 90s through to one of the most potentially restrictive systems in Europe. This involves an analysis of sociological, philosophical and legal material in order to discover why such a repressive piece of legislation could be produced at the end of a period of substantial change in the dynamic of gender relations in Italy. The book also discusses Italian policy within the wider European policy framework. Contents: Introduction: conceiving life in law; Law, gender and nation in contemporary Italy; Rethinking reproductive freedom: the case of abortion; Vitapolitics: the campaign against reproductive choice; The embryo's sovereign power; Reformulating reproductive citizenship; Bibliography; Index.About the Author: Patrick Hanafin is Director of Research at the Department of Law, Birkbeck College, UK.