Book ID: CBB011549237

A Woman's Right to Know: Pregnancy Testing in Twentieth-Century Britain (2023)

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Olszynko-Gryn, Jesse (Author)


MIT Press


Publication Date: 2023
Physical Details: 416
Language: English

Pregnancy testing has never been easier. Waiting on one side or the other of the bathroom door for a "positive" or "negative" result has become a modern ritual and rite of passage. Today, the ubiquitous home pregnancy test is implicated in personal decisions and public debates about all aspects of reproduction, from miscarriage and abortion to the "biological clock" and IVF. Yet, only three generations ago, women typically waited not minutes but months to find out whether they were pregnant. A Woman's Right to Know tells, for the first time, the story of pregnancy testing--one of the most significant and least studied technologies of reproduction. Focusing on Britain from around 1900 to the present day, Jesse Olszynko-Gryn shows how demand shifted from doctors to women, and then goes further to explain the remarkable transformation of pregnancy testing from an obscure laboratory service to an easily accessible (though fraught) tool for every woman. Lastly, the book reflects on resources the past might contain for the present and future of sexual and reproductive health. Solidly researched and compellingly argued, Olszynko-Gryn demonstrates that the rise of pregnancy testing has had significant--and not always expected--impact and has led to changes in the ways in which we conceive of pregnancy itself.

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB011549237/

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Authors & Contributors
Al-Gailani, Salim
Camargo Junior, Kenneth Rochel
Elliot, Rosemary
Fleming, John E E
Freidenfelds, Lara
Inglis, Katherine
Journals
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
British Journal for the History of Science
História, Ciências, Saúde---Manguinhos
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
Medicina nei Secoli - Arte e Scienza
Social History of Medicine
Publishers
University of California, Berkeley
Ashgate
Duke University Press
Johns Hopkins University Press
Lexington Books
McGill-Queen's University Press
Concepts
Women and health
Obstetrics and pregnancy
Maternal health services
Public health
Abortion
Childbirth
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
19th century
18th century
20th century, late
Places
Great Britain
United States
Brazil
Ireland
Senegal
Europe
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