In recent decades, human reproduction has been transformed in ways never imagined in 1900; new methods of contraception, treatments for fertility and sexual dysfunction, and new diagnostic tools have rapidly become an integral part of our culture and discourse. Body Talk explores the rhetoric of reproductive technology throughout the twentieth century, examining the ways discourse about these technologies has shaped thinking about reproduction and women's bodies, framed public policy, and empowered or marginalized points of view.

The chapters in Body Talk delve into such varied topics as the ownership and control of knowledge about birth, societal definitions of normality and pathology, definitions of the self, issues regarding granting rights as citizens to fetuses, the rights of mothers, and views about the relationship between technology and religion.