Mihai Pop

Copyright © 1985 by John W. Coleix-x

The politics of duplicity: controlling reproduction in Ceausescu's Romania

The political hypocrisy and personal horrors of one of the most repressive anti-abortion regimes in history came to the world's attention soon after the fall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Photographs of orphans with vacant eyes, sad faces, and wasted bodies circled the globe, as did alarming maternal mortality statistics and heart-breaking details of a devastating infant AIDS epidemic. Gail Kligman's chilling ethnography - of the state and of the politics of reproduction - is the first in-depth examination of this extreme case of political intervention into the most intimate aspects of everyday life.Ceausescu's reproductive policies, among which the banning of abortion was central, affected the physical and emotional well-being not only of individual men, women, children, and families but also of society as a whole. Sexuality, intimacy, and fertility control were fraught with fear, which permeated daily life and took a heavy moral toll as lying and dissimulation transformed both individuals and the state. This powerful study is based on moving interviews with women and physicians as well as on documentary and archival material. In addition to discussing the social implications and human costs of restrictive reproductive legislation, Kligman explores the means by which reproductive issues become embedded in national and international agendas. She concludes with a review of the lessons the rest of the world can learn from Romania's tragic experience

11. Gendering Postsocialism: Reproduction as Politics in East Central Europe

It is striking that abortion was among the first issues raised by virtually all of the postsocialist governments of East Central Europe. In Romania, liberalization of abortion was the second decree issued by the provisional government upon the fall of the Ceauşescu regime. Reconciling abortion’s legality in East Germany with its restriction in West Germany almost derailed German unification. In Poland the question was a permanent feature of the parliamentary agenda. But abortion was only one ..

La politique de la reproduction dans les pays d'Europe centrale et orientale

À la suite des révolutions de 1989, les enjeux attachés à la reproduction ont commencé à occuper une place essentielle dans l'agenda politique de l'Europe centrale et orientale. Dans la plupart des cas, cela n'a pas été le résultat de mécontentements vis-à-vis des politiques publiques précédentes, mais plutôt du fait que l'importance de ces enjeux «privés» à un moment de crise «publique» contribue à la création de formes politiques nouvelles. Les questions et les politiques reproductives qui transforment actuellement le paysage politique de l'Europe centrale et orientale sont présentées de quatre manières interdépendantes par les autrices. Les débats publics sur le genre et les enjeux liés à la reproduction (1) contribuent à redéfinir le rapport entre l'État et les citoyen·ne·s; (2) servent de discussions allégoriques concernant la légitimité politique et la moralité de l'État; (3) reconstituent les femmes en tant qu'actrices politiques, et ceci d'une manière nouvelle; et (4) produisent et reproduisent la nation et ses frontières