Future Home of the living God - Reality of Reproductive Rules

Erdrich’s Future Home of the Living God is set in a time where it is essentially illegal to be pregnant. In the novel, fetuses are seen in ultrasounds to have mutations and traits that resemble that of a stage of evolution before  humans. This devolution is causing a lot of worry among the government and scientists, and thus all pregnant women must turn themselves in in order to receive treatment. 

Cedar, the main protagonist, must hide from authorities so she is not captured, however she is unable to hide for long. Eventually she is taken to the hospital and it is there we learn that the pregnant women are not in a luxurious hotel to give birth and connect with their babies. They are given drugs to sedate them, given spoiled food, having procedures that may not be needed, and after giving birth, the majority of the women  do not even get to keep their babies.

This policing over women's bodies is not limited to Erdrich’s novel. In our society today there are examples of how limiting women's bodily autonomy is used to promote politics, religion, and the betterment of society. 

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To start, in America pregnancy has become a hot topic in politics, particularly around abortion. Politicians will use abortion in order to bring religious voters to their side. There have been many laws created around abortion and when it is allowed and aan overview of these laws can be seen here. Even though laws exist already restricting women during pregnancy, there are still people fighting for more laws, or more restricting laws, and really, no matter what laws are in place, there is always going to be a moral and ethical dilemma. In The Future Home of the Living God the goal of rounding up the women was to protect human DNA, which could be seen as reasonable. However, the way they were capturing women and treating them raises a question of ethics.

A real life example of birth limits can be seen in China. In 1979 the chinese government limited families to only one child per family to reduce the population and reduce the harm the population was causing on their environment and country (Festini). These laws were successful in their goal. The population was reduced to a sustainable amount and now those laws have been lifted. These laws also provided an opportunity for women to exit their traditional household roles since their families were much more limited in size. Overall this program was a success in achieving their goal, however more problems and questions are arising today revolving around the ethics of this law and its impact on society today.

In both Erdrich’s Novel and in life today these reproduction laws are limiting women's bodily autonomy, even if the law is created to better the future of society. There must be a more ethical way to reach the same goals without mistreating women and limiting their autonomy.

Festini F, de Martino MTwenty five years of the one child family policy in ChinaJournal of Epidemiology & Community Health 2004;58:358-360