Past Due: A Story of Disability, Pregnancy and Birth

by Finger

The author, handicapped by childhood polio, describes the birth of her first child and current issues for feminists and the disabled

Genres: Disability, Memoir, Nonfiction, Feminism, Disability Studies, Parenting

200 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1990

Reviews

[Jen Mazzotta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read for my diversity class- hard to follow timeline and keep track of certain people at times but very important messages and lessons throughout. Captured my attention and was raw and real

[Lí Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read a book for my biomedical ethics class so I chose this one because abortion rights and disability rights are worth thinking about. I’m disabled so I was like “sweet, let’s talk about something that affects me!!” And holy fuck was I not prepared.
Anne Finger’s medical trauma as a little girl with polio which rendered her disabled for the rest of her life is extensive and as brutal as doctors could get away with.
Anne attends disability activist groups as an adult where conversations are kind of nuts. Some lady was like oh I’d abort you before you had to go through all that awful medical stuff (TO ANNE FINGER?? LIKE OUT LOUD. TO HER FACE)
Anyway Anne speaks to something I hadn’t really considered before. She wants to have a “normal” baby. She wants something perfect to come from her mangled body. Which. Omg. Fascinating. The layers to that is amazing.
Unfortunately, after a tedious labor and Anne’s baby inhaling fecal matter during birth, her son had to be hooked up to wires and all of this and the doctors keep saying “nothing alarming but we’ll keep an eye on it. No we don’t know what his life will be like at all.” Which, I mean, what’s worse, knowing it’ll be bad or being kept in the dark? Fucked up.
Anne meets with a friend from a disability panel or something with I think a form of cerebral palsy who also had I think inhaled fecal matter during her birth and Anne admits to readers that she can’t help thinking “I don’t want my baby to turn out like you. I want him to be normal.” Which. Holyyyy fuuuuck. Like, yeah, that is so fucking. Omg. Like I get it?? I get it.
There’s something so just. I don’t know. When you’re disabled and you want a “normal” “healthy” baby. And you don’t want a “r*tard” baby. Because Jesus Christ yeah. What would that say about you? People would stare and think “this is why those freaks shouldn’t have children. They can’t take care of themselves as a child why would a normal person have to? Who let them think they should do this. All they’ll do is make more freaks and make it our problem.” Like FUCK dude. It’s rough.

Anyway, literally such a good read. I can’t recommend it enough to people. It’s hard and graphic at times and brutally honest about the internal conflicts of identity and desires when you’re disabled. It’s just so good. I hope more people read it.
Four stars because sometimes it was a bit slow but I also can appreciate the value those parts are to the story, it’s a me problem. 10/10 tbh

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book many years ago, before I developed RA. I reread it again this year as a person with a disability who now uses a wheelchair. It affected me more deeply this time because I could relate so much more.

I do not share the author's pro-abortion stand, and am kind of horrified that she decided on a whim to stop using contraception, gets pregnant, and then casually aborts. What happens to taking responsibility for one's actions? but then she worked in an abortion clinic, so I guess she took abortion to be a normal casual event and not the killing of child, though in one passage she describes seeing a perfectly formed hand of a preborn baby sitting in a jar.

When parents have prenatal testing and choose to abort disabled babies, it devalues the lives of disabled people outside of the womb. I feel like the author knows this. Unfortunately, her blind devotion to abortion prevents her from being consistent and rejecting this type of medical ableism.

The story of her pregnancy and birth was riveting and held my interest, keeping me turning pages even though I had read the story before. It is sad that her extreme protectiveness about the baby, refusing to eat many types of foods and avoiding fetal monitors until the late stages of her pregnancy, came to not prevent the problems she and her baby had. Her choice for a home birth was disastrous and I was surprised she doesn't hold anything against the people who took care of her.

[Danielle Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoir about pregnancy, disability, and feminism. A woman permanently disabled by childhood polio writes about her pregnancy, the very difficult birth of her son, and her own coming to terms with her internalized oppression of disability when she finds out her son might be mentally disabled. This is much more about feminism and disability issues in one person's life than it is about pregnancy and birth, particularly - pregnancy and birth are more the catalysts for some very thinky thoughts about intersectionality, internalized oppression, and the experience of being pregnant and disabled. Finger's writing is strong and lucid, and everything she has to say is important. The book was published in 1990, and her child was born in 1985, the same year as me, but the book is way less dated than you might expect.

I recommend this book highly, but if you're concerned about specific triggers, please check first. A few things that immediately come to mind: babies who are sick, dying, or dead; discussion of work in an abortion clinic and aborted fetuses; lots of descriptions of medicine, medical procedures, and the faults in the medical system; lots of ablism faced by the author/protagonist.

[Hillary Lavendar]

When I was in college, a student in my class asked about the father. Having a disability myself, I wanted to be this woman's spokesperson. Throughout this entire book, I understood exactly what was going on and, better yet, why. I know why she wasn't married, I know why the father was left out of many of the decisions, I know why she wanted a home birth. Sometimes I think about the child in this true story. I think he would be in his mid-twennties by now. There is only one way I have to explain this: Anne Finger speaks about regaining consciousness during one of her own surgeries as a child and how her mother told her that would not happen. Every parent living through disability has to realize that the disabled child will one day be an adult. That this disability is not happening to that parent only.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pregnancy/birth memoir explores the intersection of reproductive rights and disability rights through personal narrative.

Narrator's pro-choice commitments -- grounded in a woman's right to bodily integrity overriding debates about when life begins -- are complicated by a commitment to promote the well-being of disabled persons. She wishes to uphold access to abortion while challenging the assumption that disabled fetuses in particular would be better off never being born. (Parallel issue to feminist opposition to abortion for sex selection.)

Physically disabled mother must face body/mind issues when faced with the possibility of a mentally disabled child.

Not explicitly treated, but a strong subtext, is the matter of "reproductive rights" including the right to reproduce, not just the right to refrain from reproducing.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this out of curiosity and then couldn't put it down: as a memoir it is a remarkable model of two things: the use of suspense (I really wanted to find out what happened next) and a really credible, persuasive job of promoting both reproductive rights and sensitivity to the needs of people with disabilities (which, now that I am getting older, I realize will at some point be most of us). Mostly it is just good storytelling and a first-rate memoir.

[jessikarae · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book has been out of print for awhile, i have been looking for my own copy since i first read it two years ago. last week i found a copy at value world for the low price of 98 cents. this is one of the best books i have read it a very long time, and one of the most important books for understanding the intersections between disability and reproductive justice.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of a woman that has post polio syndrome. She has gone through many different surgeries without success. She has a lot of curry age and stamina and inner strength.