Reproductive Justice and the Catholic Church - by Emily Reimer-Barry (Paperback)

About the Book

Using a framework of reproductive justice and drawing on sources of the Catholic intellectual tradition, Emily Reimer-Barry argues that the Church's position of moral absolutism against abortion denies women's moral agency and dignity.

Book Synopsis

Using a framework of reproductive justice and drawing on sources of the Catholic intellectual tradition, Emily Reimer-Barry argues that the Catholic Church's position of moral absolutism against abortion denies women's moral agency and violates human dignity.

Review Quotes

Dr. Reimer-Barry writes from a theologically informed, compassionate, experiential, feminist perspective, drawing from the reproductive justice movement and Catholic social teaching, to propose a pastoral response to the complex personal and social issues surrounding women's reproductive decisions in general, and abortion in specific. Her book is essential reading to promote women's dignity and offer nuance, insight, and compassion to move ecclesial, social, and political discussions beyond the reductionist "pro-life/pro-choice" binary.

In her proposal for a Catholic ethics of abortion, Emily Reimers Barry revisits the arguments from the tradition of Catholic Moral Theology and Catholic Social Teaching. She confronts the more recent teachings with women's experiences of pregnancy loss and explores the compatibility of the reproductive justice framework with Catholic social ethics. Her arguments attend to prenates and women, prioritizing pregnant women's bodily integrity and moral agency. Her call for pragmatic solidarity is timely and apt, and her engaged Catholicism will be welcome by readers who wish to transcend the "pro life" and "pro choice" dichotomy.

Meticulously researched, staunchly feminist, and compellingly argued, Reproductive Justice and the Catholic Church makes a thoroughly Catholic case for taking a reproductive justice approach to pregnancy and mothering that centers women's agency and women's and children's welfare. Reimer-Barry demonstrates how absolutist opposition to abortion has distorted the Catholic moral tradition. Instead, informed by women's experiences of all kinds of pregnancy loss, she traces a path toward a socially just world in which women can safely bear and raise the children they want to have.

Reimer-Barry offers a distinct, nuanced Catholic position on abortion. She integrates Catholic resources and scientific research to argue that alternative teachings on abortion--less legalistic, less black and white, more pastoral and nuanced--are possible. She confronts problematic binaries, narrow biblical interpretations, overly-simplistic moral absolutes, patriarchy, and racism and responds by attending to women's experiences, valuing women's moral agency, and suggesting necessary social and structural supports. This book dismantles tired, dead-end binaries and charts a path forward that aligns with Catholic social teaching and respect for consciences. Reimer-Barry shows why she is the leading expert on Catholicism and reproductive justice.

This is a brave and honest book. It is also reconciliatory and nuanced. Reimer Barry brings needed moral-theological expertise, ecclesial civility and mutual compassion to this notoriously fractious topic. Her focus on justice as support for the wellbeing of all makes it a superlative point of entry to the ethics and politics of abortion for scholars and students alike.

Writing from her deep conviction that "a better way is possible, Dr. Reimer-Barry helps Catholics recognize our complicity in structures that harm pregnant women and provides a vital resource for embarking on the necessary work of centering women's agency and discernment in conversations about abortion. This book is a primer on Church teaching, an introduction to the social injustices that motivate work for reproductive justice, and a guide to proceeding with respect for women's agency and discernment. It also includes a moving and challenging collection of women's testimonies about their experiences of pregnancy and loss. Anyone in the Church who talks about abortion, and especially the Church's male leaders, should read this book with care.

About the Author

Emily Reimer-Barry is associate professor of theology and religious studies and affiliated faculty in the program in women's and gender studies at the University of San Diego, where she teaches undergraduate courses in theological ethics. She is the author of Catholic Marriage in the Era of HIV and AIDS: Marriage for Life (2015) and her essays and articles have appeared in Theological Studies, Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America, Theology & Sexuality, and the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics.