The Science Fiction of Roe v. Wade

This article argues that since the 1960s, science fiction's explorations of the human and the posthuman have been anchored in a very real legal question of their and our time--that of abortion. Unlike literary fiction, which has focused on representing realistic human emotions, science fiction's speculative character has allowed its authors to extend and examine the myriad cultural and legal analogies that established personhood in the years surrounding Roe v. Wade (1973). The most prominent early example of science fiction's engagement with abortion appears in the writings of Philip K. Dick, whose pro-life sentiments escalated as his career progressed.