HIS2303 : Contesting Reproductive Rights in the UK and Ireland (Inactive)
HIS2303 : Contesting Reproductive Rights in the UK and Ireland (Inactive)
- Inactive for Year: 2025/26
- Module Leader(s): Dr Vicky Long
- Lecturer: Dr Sarah Campbell
- Owning School: History, Classics and Archaeology
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
Semester 2 Credit Value: | 20 |
ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
European Credit Transfer System | |
Pre-requisite
Modules you must have done previously to study this module
Pre Requisite Comment
N/A
Co-Requisite
Modules you need to take at the same time
Co Requisite Comment
N/A
Aims
The regulation of reproductive rights has evoked strong reactions over the course of the twentieth-century, and continues to polarise opinions today. Women’s rights to access abortion vary significantly, both globally and within Europe, and while in many respects women’s access to legal abortion has expanded over the last 100 years, this picture is not universal, and it is far from clear that this direction of travel will be maintained.
The module situates debates about access to, and regulation of, abortion within a broader framework of reproductive rights, regulations, and bioethics. It focuses on the UK and Ireland, where abortion provisions diverge significantly, despite geographical proximity, situating this picture within a broader international picture to tease out generalizable and distinctive features. Structurally, it entwines a loosely chronological with a thematic approach, intersecting macro- and micro-level analysis and case studies. While pro-natalist policies predominated in the early years of the twentieth century, national policies and practices diverged over the course of the century, shaped in non-linear ways by medical politics, feminism, sexual politics, eugenics, and discourses about disability, politics, economics and religion. This module encourages students to evaluate the role played by these factors in shaping policy, practice, experience and activism, and reconfiguring debates about rights, choice and autonomy in different eras and locations. Feminist activism, for example, has been a driving force behind campaigns to legalise and protect access to abortion, but has also played a role in campaigns for better provisions for mothers. Efforts to restrict the right to reproduce often targeted disabled people, but some disabled people and their advocates in turn have sought to restrict people’s rights to access abortion on the grounds of foetal abnormality.
Outline Of Syllabus
Indicative content:
Block 1: Pregnancy, Birth and Infant Care
• War is good for babies? Pro-natalism and empire states
• Feminist challenges to the medicalization of pregnancy and birth
• Surrogacy and IVF
• Ireland’s mother and baby homes
Block 2: Abortion
• Accessing contraception
• The 1967 Abortion Act: politics and feminist activism
• The prolife movement and the rise of fetal rights
• Abortion in Ireland
Block 3: Disability and Eugenics
• Eugenics and sterilisation
• Newgenics? Prenatal screening and disability rights
Training on poster design skills will be integrated into the teaching programme
Learning Outcomes
Intended Knowledge Outcomes
On successful completion of this module, students should:
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the factors shaping debates about, and access to
contraception and abortion in the UK and Ireland;
• Be able to summarise and evaluate the key historiographical debates in this field;
• Display an understanding of the range of primary source materials which can be used when researching
this field, and be able to critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of these sources.
Intended Skill Outcomes
By the end of this module students will have gained competence in the following key areas:
• Ability to understand and evaluate historical debates;
• Ability to analyse and evaluate primary sources;
• Effective research skills; the ability to locate appropriate primary and secondary source materials and
take notes;
• Excellent writing skills, including correct referencing;
• Ability to present research findings visually;
• Effective time and workload management.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | 1 x 1 hour lecture per week |
Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 67 | 1:00 | 67:00 | N/A |
Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 67 | 1:00 | 67:00 | N/A |
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Small group teaching | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | 1 hour per week |
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 3 | 2:00 | 6:00 | Introduction to primary sources; guidance on assessments; formative poster assessment. |
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 1 | 2:00 | 2:00 | Film screening; if possible, we will also incorporate a guest lecture in this slot. |
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Drop-in/surgery | 3 | 1:00 | 3:00 | Drop in surgeries to support students with their assignments |
Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 33 | 1:00 | 33:00 | N/A |
Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
SEMINARS encourage independent study and promote improvements in oral presentation, interpersonal communication, problem-solving skills, research skills and adaptability.
LECTURES enable students to gain a wider sense of historical argument and debate and how such debates operate, which also allows them to develop comparisons between different historiographical debates.
FILM SESSION: we have assigned a two hour slot to introduce, view and discuss valuable primary source film materials for this topic. If feasible, we will incorporate a guest lecture within this slot.
WORKSHOP: One workshop will introduce students to the range of primary sources available on this topic, many of which are available online, and will highlight issues we need to consider when analyzing these materials. The second workshop will provide students with guidance on poster design (e.g. aesthetic considerations, conveying ideas effectively succinctly to wider audiences, and will offer some pointers on planning and completing the essay assignment. The third workshop enables formative assessment to take place; students will present their draft posters to module staff and fellow students, to secure feedback.
SURGERY TIME: Staff will offer slots for students to discuss engaging with the primary source materials, and preparing for the assignments.
Reading Lists
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Essay | 2 | A | 80 | 3000 words |
Poster | 2 | M | 20 | Indicative wordcount 550. |
Formative Assessments
Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.
Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
---|---|---|---|
Poster | 2 | M | To be presented at the poster workshop session for formative staff and peer feedback. Indicative wordcount 450. |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
Work submitted during the delivery of the module forms a means of determining the student’s progress.
Assessed Work:
You will be given a set of primary source documents relating to each of the blocks in the module and a list of essays. The two summative assessments are linked, so you should choose primary sources that are related to your essay question.
You will design a poster around a key theme in the sources. You can share a draft version of this poster at a timetabled workshop session to receive verbal feedback from your tutors and fellow students (the formative assessment), and use this feedback to rework your poster, which you will then submit as summative assessment one. The written feedback from your tutor on the final version of the poster will then feed forward to your extended essay (summative assessment 2), allowing greater precision and analysis.
Both assignments will be submitted and marked online.
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- HIS2303's Timetable
Past Exam Papers
- Exam Papers Online : www.ncl.ac.uk/exam.papers/
- HIS2303's past Exam Papers
General Notes
N/A
Welcome to Newcastle University Module Catalogue
This is where you will be able to find all key information about modules on your programme of study. It will help you make an informed decision on the options available to you within your programme.
You may have some queries about the modules available to you. Your school office will be able to signpost you to someone who will support you with any queries.
Disclaimer
The information contained within the Module Catalogue relates to the 2025 academic year.
In accordance with University Terms and Conditions, the University makes all reasonable efforts to deliver the modules as described.
Modules may be amended on an annual basis to take account of changing staff expertise, developments in the discipline, the requirements of external bodies and partners, staffing changes, and student feedback. Module information for the 2026/27 entry will be published here in early-April 2026. Queries about information in the Module Catalogue should in the first instance be addressed to your School Office.