The Zero Trimester: Pre-Pregnancy Care and the Politics of Reproductive Risk

by Miranda Waggoner

In the United States, a healthy pregnancy is now defined well before pregnancy begins. Public health messages encourage women of reproductive age to anticipate motherhood and prepare their bodies for healthy reproduction—even when pregnancy is not on the horizon. Some experts believe that this pre-pregnancy care model will reduce risk and ensure better birth outcomes than the prenatal care model. Others believe it represents yet another attempt to control women’s bodies.  The Zero Trimester explores why the task of perfecting pregnancies now takes up a woman’s entire reproductive life, from menarche to menopause. Miranda R. Waggoner shows how the zero trimester rose alongside shifts in medical and public health priorities, contentious reproductive politics, and the changing realities of women’s lives in the twenty-first century. Waggoner argues that the emergence of the zero trimester is not simply related to medical and health concerns; it also reflects the power of culture and social ideologies to shape both population health imperatives and women’s bodily experiences.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Health

276 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 12, 2017

Reviews

[Rita D · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly powerful, thoroughly-researched, and beautifully written ethnography on rise of the preconception care framework in the United States. Highly recommend!

[Caralyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third trimester is an essential look at the successes and failures of pre-pregnancy care in America. Waggoner takes an objective stance, and allows the reader to decide the merits of such a system. I highly recommend to anyone who will go into any women’s health field or is effected by women’s health (which is really everyone).