Excesses of Pregnancy

This essay highlights the concept of the fetal paradox. The fetal paradox are representations of the fetus as separate from the maternal body, and the maternal body at odds with it. Oliver makes the interesting point that the paradox is a product  of the emergence of ultrasounds that allows us to see the fetus thereby establishing the fetus as the other within the maternal body. The establishment of the other within is the cause of  Hollywood's  depictions of pregnancy as either the fetus or the mother.  There is a need for the subject to be autonomous so it is impossible to view both the fetus and the mother as one which is why debates on reproduction poses the rights of the fetus as separate from the rights of the mother. This creates a narrative that either pro-life i protecting the rights of the fetus, or pro-choice protecting the rights of the mother leaving no middle ground.

Oliver describes a the plethora of stigmas regarding abortion, including terms such as, bloody, dangerous, monstrous,  and unethical.  They are exacerbated by within the Hollywood film industry. Oliver references the  Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days that exposes the consequences of the illegality of abortion. In films like these the overall message is if a woman decides not to have an abortion, she will be happy with some sort of fairy tale ending. However, if a woman contemplates whether or not to have an abortion she will die, suffer, or have a miscarriage.