Available From UC Press

Essentially a Mother argues that the law of pregnancy and motherhood has been overrun by sexist ideology. Courts have held that a pregnant woman’s nine months of gestation hardly count in her claim to parent the child she bears and that a man’s brief moment of ejaculation matters more than a woman’s labor. Armed with such dubious arguments, courts have stripped women of the right to abortion, treated surrogate mothers as mere vessels, and handed biological fathers—even those who became fathers through rape—automatic rights over women and their children. In this incisive and groundbreaking book, Jennifer Hendricks argues that feminists must overthrow the skewed value system that subordinates women, devalues caregiving, and denies too many the right to parent.

Jennifer Hendricks is Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School. 

"A powerful, important book bringing together decades of legal rulings on parenthood—creating a clear and forceful argument about parental rights at birth with full recognition of pregnancy as a parental relationship."—Barbara Katz Rothman, author of The Biomedical Empire: Lessons Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic

"Essentially a Mother gives us a detailed history of the demise of the centrality of gestation and birth to the law of parenthood. While 'biology plus relationship' was once a necessary condition of parenthood, the law has shifted over the past three decades toward a position of genetic supremacy: the genetic tie trumps all. Grounded in relational feminism and the author’s commitment to human flourishing, this generous and brilliant book gracefully traces the impact of this momentous shift in what the law values and why. In the process, Jennifer Hendricks challenges the legal norms we’ve adopted to govern our most intimate conflicts and charts a new path forward."—Robin West, Frederick J. Haas Professor of Law and Philosophy Emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center

"Through analysis that is both piercing and profound, Essentially a Mother explores how law understands reproduction, parentage, and gender equality. Hendricks weaves original insights about notable court cases into a seamless challenge to longstanding assumptions about what is natural, what is artificial, and what role legal regulation should play."—Susan Frelich Appleton, Lemma Barkeloo & Phoebe Couzins Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law

"This superb analysis of what makes—or should make—someone a legal parent roundly criticizes the increasing tendency to ground parental status in 'genetic essentialism' at the expense of actual caregiving, especially pregnancy and childbirth. Hendricks’ clear accounts of the claims of genetic and non-genetic parents are a major contribution to relational feminism and indispensable reading for experts and general readers alike who seek to protect and sustain relationships among children and those who care for them."—Mary Lyndon Shanley, Professor Emerita of Political Science, Vassar College

"Essentially a Mother reclaims–and redefines–motherhood for the modern era. Responding to the decades-long recasting of family roles in gender neutral terms, Hendricks reexamines the role of gestation and nurture as the core of motherhood and of what should be the central element in the legal protection of parenthood. She shows across topics as varied as rape, surrogacy, and embryo mix-ups how genetics has replaced functional parenthood in securing legal protection and creates a roadmap for righting the legal balance in ways that reflect the realities of modern families. This book sets the agenda for the next generation of family law reform."—June Carbone, author of Marriage Markets: How Inequality is Remaking the American Family

"Hendricks grapples with many of the thorniest issues surrounding contemporary sex equality law, pregnancy, and parenting. She does so in an eminently readable prose that treats all arguments with rigor and compassion."—Katharine Baker, University Distinguished Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law

"Essentially a Mother weaves together stories, policies, and court cases to explore legal approaches to parental rights and pregnancy, covering everything from contemporary disputes over fertility mix-ups and surrogacy to the Supreme Court's groundbreaking decisions from 50 years ago. Guided by relational feminism, Hendricks has written a highly accessible book that gives readers compelling insight into the relationships at the core of our families."—Naomi Cahn, coauthor of Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy