In a transnational perspective, decriminalization and destigmatization of abortion remain central, unfulfilled demands of feminist movements. (Un)restricted access to abortion has hardly lost any of its explosive nature and remains a perennial subject of socio-political debate, as demonstrated, for example, by the recent events related to the overturning of the U.S. landmark decision Roe v. Wade. The right to reproductive integrity and self-determination, formulated as a fundamental human right in the Resolution of the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, is still not being implemented consistently. Exercising reproductive rights means more than safe and legal access to abortion. For this issue, we are seeking contributions that address cross-cutting aspects of reproductive health and autonomy. What core areas of personal life design are affected by reproductive policies and their conditions, and what impact do they have on human life?

We are interested in research approaches that strive to address cultural, social, and legal issues from a gender-theoretical and interdisciplinary perspective and shed light on historical as well as contemporary developments. The focus of the issue is on questions about the sociocultural practices and legal (framework) conditions of pregnancy care, contraception, and abortion as well as on medicalization of pregnancy, birth and midwifery, and parenthood and reproductive medicine and health care.

Possible questions/research topics in detail
• Approaches to and struggles on reproductive justice in a transnational perspective
• Queer-feminist perspectives on policies of reproduction and generativity
• Body, reproduction and family policies from a (human) rights perspective
• Intersectional and marginalized perspectives on aspects of reproductive and sexual health (e.g., intersections of gender and disability, age, ethnicity, social class, and other dimensions)
• Historical as well as current aspects of reproductive technologies and (material) contraception methods
• Lifeworld and physical experiences of (un)intentionally pregnant persons in an intersectional perspective
• Psychosocial and medical perspectives on the care situation of (un)intentionally pregnant persons
• Caring masculinities – contraception, pregnancy and birth in relation to masculinities
• Doing family – the importance of reproductive medicine in creating diverse family relationships
• (Re-)configuration of gender constructions and arrangements with regard to (future) contraception methods (e.g., in the discourse on hormonal contraception methods for men)

Procedure and timetable

• Please submit a one- to two-page abstract by 4 December 2022. Non-German speakers are welcome to submit their articles in English.
• Please send your proposal as well as your manuscript as Word file to: manuskripte(at)gender-zeitschrift.de (subject: Special issue›Reproductive Policies‹.
• Once your abstract has been assessed and judged suitable for this issue, you will receive an invitation to submit. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 21 December 2022. The deadline for submission of the final manuscript is 7 May 2023.
• Manuscripts must not exceed 50,000 characters (including space characters). A style sheet for authors is available at www.gender-zeitschrift.de/en/manuscripts.

All submissions will be reviewed in our double-blind peer review process based on which the final selection of contributions to be published will be made. The editors may give instructions to revise the contribution, which is the rule rather than the exception. In case of a high number of positively peer-reviewed contributions, the Editorial Department reserves the right to make a final selection of articles and to publish some contributions in a later issue.