Sara Dubow, Assistant Professor of History, Williams College

"Sara Dubow synthesizes an impressive range of material from medical textbooks to cartoons, legislative debates and popular science to convincingly argue that different meanings of the foetus have been determined largely by social values - beliefs about motherhood, class and race - and political circumstances... a timely, well researched book." - The Times Literary Supplement

"A compelling and well-paced historical account that gives a good sense of the characters, places and politics of the abortion debate...this careful book alloows the reader to navigate a course through highly-politicised waters." - The Economist.

"Sara Dubow's work is interesting... [it] offers a new look at an issue that is yet to be picked up with this gusto outside the United States." - Dr Vaidehi Nathan, The Organiser.

"Hundreds of thousands of pages have been written about abortion but none so original as Sara Dubow's history of the fetus" - Linda Gordon, History Workshop Journal

"a welcome addition to this field" - Tatjana Buklijas, Social History of Medicine

"Dubow offers up an important contribution to the field, forcing the reader to contend both with why the fetus is such a fascinating topic for investigation and the deeper social tensions expressed in each conversation about the objects. ... this book stands as an important contribution to the field." - Shannon K. Withycombe, Journal of the History of Medicine