ABSTRACT

In response to this anthology’s goal of examining how writing and art can make abortion more visible, audible, and palpable, this essay analyses Marianne Apostolides’ memoir of abortion, Deep Salt Water (2017), a poetic and moving meditation on the interconnected topics of reproduction and climate change. It argues that in connecting these two topics Deep Salt Water is able to disrupt the political and cultural contexts that popularly frame abortion, and which are dominated by anti-abortion discourse and imagery, by representing abortion as a natural part of the everyday passage of time on earth. It does this by linking Apostolides’ abortion to a larger set of questions about the ethics of reproducing humans and non-humans alike. It also argues that representing abortion in this manner disrupts the humanist-driven, “pro-life” futurism that often saturates discussions of abortion, without giving up a commitment to reproductive justice. Overall, the chapter argues that Deep Salt Water places reproductive politics within the context of environmental politics, and stakes a claim for the legitimacy of abortion within this larger context, by repositioning the human as one being among many, and by expanding reproductive justice to include the reproduction of non-human communities and ecosystems.