On reproductive autonomy: reconsidering the case of Socialist Yugoslavia from the standpoint of contemporary debates

In 1974, Socialist Yugoslavia became the first country to enshrine “freedom of choice in childbearing” into its constitution. Crucially, this pioneering legal step was accompanied by a host of economic, health and social infrastructure measures to foster women’s effective reproductive autonomy. That more comprehensive framing converges with current calls, especially by women of color in the USA and activists in Latin America, to approach reproductive issues as matters of social justice, i.e., to go beyond an exclusively rights-based discourse centered on individual choice. Against that backdrop and taking Isaih Berlin’s distinction between negative and positive freedom (“Two Concepts of Liberty”, 1958) as an analytical tool, we aim to examine different approaches to reproductive rights past and present. The concept of negative freedom, as “freedom from” interference, largely corresponds to the contemporary focus (of activists and legal scholars) on access to (safe) abortion. Conversely, the concept of positive freedom, as “freedom to”, is echoed in the legislative and policy framework devised in Socialist Yugoslavia. That conceptualization of reproductive freedom guaranteed not only free access to abortion and contraception but also encompassed the creation of material conditions necessary for a “responsible parenthood” – from comprehensive sexual education to social and healthcare provisions (paid maternity leave, IVF etc.). By analyzing policy documents and expert discourses (e.g. from politician and intellectual Vida Tomšič), we reconstruct the Yugoslav policies on reproduction gradually created and fought for during the three postwar decades, not without confrontations within the party elite. We then examine the conceptualization of reproductive autonomy that is embedded in them, including how it reflected the wider ideology of self-management. Against the backdrop of the grassroots campaign “My Voice, My Choice” for safe and accessible abortion in all European countries, initiated in Slovenia – a Yugoslav successor-state –, this paper is not just a theoretical endeavour, but also an act of memory (Bal 1999). Revisiting socialist state feminism not only sheds light on forgotten, silenced or ignored historical chapters of gender struggles (Bonfliglioli & Ghodsee 2020), it can also provide insight and policy solutions to present-day discussions on reproductive rights and the overall feminist agenda.