Published
Oct 14, 2025Page count
208 pagesISBN
978-1529236873Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Oct 14, 2025Page count
208 pagesISBN
978-1529236880Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Oct 14, 2025Page count
208 pagesISBN
978-1529236897Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University Press
Magic Misoprostol
Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.
How can a stomach ulcer drug transform abortion access? This book tells the story of misoprostol, a medication that was ‘discovered’ as a cheap and safe method for abortion in Latin America.
This book develops three conceptual lenses: reproductive justice, mobility politics and geographies of knowledge, to explore the emergence and success of misoprostol for abortions. Chapters cover the experimentation process, activist groups, the challenges of moving the pill in clandestine contexts and how the pill interacts with the law. The book demonstrates how misoprostol, and the people who have mobilized it, have transformed abortion safety, knowledge and practices with global effects.
Cordelia Freeman is Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Exeter, UK.
Introduction
1. From the Favelas of Brazil to the WHO: The Biography of Misoprostol
2. Supporting Misoprostol Abortions: The ‘Accompaniers’ Facilitating Access
3. The Mobilities of Misoprostol: Pharmaceuticals on the Move
4. Misoprostol and the Law: Manipulating the Margins
5. Misoprostol and Its Relations: In Search of a Gold Standard
For Abortion Liberation: A Conclusion
