ABSTRACT
Introduction Sociologist Barbara Katz Rothman and others have long theorized motherhood as a form of productive labour situated within contexts of patriarchy, capitalism, and technological ideology (2004). From this vantage point, motherhood is conceived as work, and children the product of that labour. However, as Rothman is quick to suggest, the value of the product is not directly correlated to the value of the worker; in other words, even in situations where children may be increasingly valued, the social worth of mothers may plummet. Such a dynamic is seen clearly in the privileging of fetal rights over maternal rights in much modern-day anti-abortion discourse.
