Reproductive Agency and the Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma

Abstract This article supports the development of reproductive agency as a means of intercepting the transgenerational transmission of trauma through maternal subjectivity. Reproductive agency includes, among other things, abortion as a viable choice. It is my view that reproductive agency is predicated on maternal subjectivity – that is, the individual selfhood that mothers possess. However, women’s capacity for agency around reproduction as well as maternal subjectivity have long been denied, even within psychoanalysis. Under patriarchy lies the institution and mandate of motherhood. The institution implicitly demands women be passive, yet burdens them with guilt for choices they are forbidden to make themselves. In contrast, the experience of mothering is highly personal and active, and psychoanalysis has the potential to make more space for maternal subjectivity, agency, consent, and mourning. In doing so, we can support women in reckoning with reproductive decisions after the fact, as well as affecting change in future generations and intercepting the transgenerational transmission of trauma before it occurs. Importantly, exercising maternal reproductive agency is seen as a relational function. Rather than addressing the needs of one in opposition to the needs of another, it is about making discerning decisions to impact a lineage of interconnected beings. This article is part of an ongoing attempt to write theory from outside patriarchy (Cixous & Clement, 1986/1975), specifically using the author’s personal voice, to help illustrate maternal subjectivity.