Reproduction as politics in East Central Europe

Following the revolutions of 1989, reproductive issues have risen to the top of the political agenda in East Central Europe. In most cases this was not because of widespread dissatisfaction with earlier policies. Rather, the centrality of such "private" issues at a moment of "public" crisis contributes to the creation of new political forms. The authors present four interrelated ways in which reproductive issues and policies are changing the political landscape of East Central Europe. Public discussions about gender and reproductive issues (1) contribute to recasting the relationship between the state and its citizens; (2) serve as allegorical discussions about political legitimacy and the morality of the state; (3) reconstitute women as political actors in new ways; and (4) make and remake the nation and its boundaries.