"With passion and verve, Rickie Solinger defends motherhood, no matter a woman's class, race, or marital status, against those who would limit feminism to the marketplace of choice. Her brilliant interweaving of the histories of adoption, abortion, and welfare since the 1960s is must reading for untangling today's politics of family, poverty, and women's rights."--Eileen Boris, University of California "This thoroughly researched and searing indictment of the alarming treatment of poor single mothers is a must read for everyone who rightfully fears governments that decide who can and cannot mother."--Mimi Abramovitz, author of Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy from Colonial Times to the Present "A trenchant and persuasive critique of the rhetoric of choice in framing women's reproductive rights. Rickie Solinger reveals how the language of choice has turned motherhood into a class privilege and makes an eloquent case for framing the issue in terms of rights --entitlements that are due to all citizens irrespective of their resources."--Evelyn Nakano Glenn, editor of Mothering: Ideology, Experience, and Agency "Rickie Solinger continues to be a highly original and eloquent voice in the public debate on abortion, adoption, women, welfare and everything in between. Her social commentary on choice and consumerism is a direct hit, with significant implications for how we frame public policy addressing these issues. This is a book that will change the way you look at things you thought you understood --a real keeper.

"--Martha F. Davis, Legal Director, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, and author of Brutal Need:Lawyers and the Welfare Rights Movement, 1960-1973 "A brilliant and timely book on a near-timeless topic. Solinger cuts across the seemingly separate discussions of adoption, abortion and welfare to discuss the politics of motherhood itself. In this disturbing but essential book, she asks: In this increasingly harsh America, which women have the right to mother their children?"--Barbara Katz Rothman, author of Recreating Motherhood and The Book of Life "In this thoroughly researched and richly detailed book, Rickie challenges conventional approaches that focus on the concept of choice, and convincingly argues that women can only achieve full citizenship when reproductive autonomy is defined as a right."--Jill Quadagno, author of The Color of Welfare "This eloquent expose of the politics of motherhood takes on feminists and liberals as well as conservatives; it is a courageous and important book." --Sonya Michel, author of Children's Interests / Mothers' Rights "Once again, Rickie Solinger has applied her laser-like intelligence to understanding the dark undertow of the gains made in reproductive rights over the twentieth century, and how these are stratified by race, class, and privilege. This is a primer for anyone interested in how we might make it through the twenty-first."--Faye Ginsburg, author of Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in an American Community "Solinger's analysis of the hidden aspects of reproductive policy as they are experienced in ordinary women's lives should make everyone take notice.

She shows how abortion, adoption and welfare are inter-related systems that control women's childbearing and turn children into a consumer commodity. This is a very smart policy analysis."--Myra Marx Ferree, editor of Revisioning Gender "You can always count on independent scholar Rickie Solinger to jolt privileged American feminists out of our complacency; her newest book is no exception. This time, she explodes the myth of reproductive freedom for all American women and points out the great irony that the much touted 'right to choose' becomes yet another example of race and class privilege in America."--Evelyn Hu-DeHart, author of Across the Pacific: Asian Ameri.