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Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.
How can a stomach ulcer drug transform abortion access? This book tells the story of misoprostol, a medication that was ‘discovered’ as a cheap and safe method for abortion in Latin America.
This book develops three conceptual lenses: reproductive justice, mobility politics and geographies of knowledge, to explore the emergence and success of misoprostol for abortions. Chapters cover the experimentation process, activist groups, the challenges of moving the pill in clandestine contexts and how the pill interacts with the law. The book demonstrates how misoprostol, and the people who have mobilized it, have transformed abortion safety, knowledge and practices with global effects.
‘I truly enjoyed reading Magic Misoprostol and found it thought-provoking, especially in the way Freeman talks about taking misoprostol out of the strictly biomedical realm and watching as feminists move it through social channels not sanctioned by states. Freeman importantly centers the Latin American feminist movement(s), since it's still too rare to read English-language accounts of the incredible vitality and energy that Latin American activists have contributed. In all, Freeman adroitly explains how Latin American feminists used misoprostol to support women, liberating safe abortion from state and biomedical control.’ Lynn M. Morgan, Mount Holyoke College
‘In this terrific and creative book, Freeman centres the stories of those who make the magic of misoprostol possible. Magic Misoprostol brilliantly recounts how Latin American acompañantes became magicians, using misoprostol to secure reproductive autonomy in spite of abortion bans.’ Michelle Oberman, author of Her Body, Our Laws: On the Frontlines of the Abortion War from El Salvador to Oklahoma
‘This book weaves the story of an 'abortion pill' as it travels through political, social, geographic, and biological spaces, transforming lives and communities - as well as public health - along the way.' Naomi Braine, City University of New York
Introduction
1. From the Favelas of Brazil to the WHO: The Biography of Misoprostol
2. Supporting Misoprostol Abortions: The ‘Accompaniers’ Facilitating Access
3. The Mobilities of Misoprostol: Pharmaceuticals on the Move
4. Misoprostol and the Law: Manipulating the Margins
5. Misoprostol and Its Relations: In Search of a Gold Standard
For Abortion Liberation: A Conclusion