Rosemary's Baby: Pregnancy is Hell...literally.

    At surface value, Roman Polanski's 1968 film Rosemary's Baby tells the story of a young pregnant woman being controlled by a longstanding Satanic coven determined to bring the Devil to power. Like many horror movies Rosemary's Baby seems to take something regarded as safe and gentle, in this case pregnancy and child-rearing and turn it into the fuel for fear. At the same time however, this movie extends beyond this process, and uses social anxieties and expectations of the time and perhaps challenges them, although whether this was the intention or a product of interpretation is uncertain.
     What I'm referring to is the interpretation of this film as having a message close to feminism such as in Karyn Valerius' Rosemary's Baby, Gothic Pregnancy, and Fetal Subjects. She places the film in the sociopolitical context of the feminist movement during the mid-60's , specifically regarding the right to choose, and the dominance of patriarchal views in the medical field. Valerius states that the emotional and physical pain Rosemary goes through, the dismissal, exploitation, and manipulation she endures from her husband and the coven members, and the choice she makes to take care of her child despite his partly demonic origins support pro-choice feminism and a restructuring of social institutions and policy. I think that it is entirely possible for this movie to be used for this purpose but I hardly think Polanski or Levin's intentions were to argue for abortions. I do believe however that there was the suggestion in this film that the traditional views of female roles and functions as mothers staying within the home and submitting to the authority of others may not be particularly for the good of these women. Both Rosemary's husband and the coven members, isolate her, use her for personal gain and power, and dismiss her concerns, and as this occurs and the pregnancy progresses she grows more sickly and seemingly paranoid. Functioning within the traditional expectations of mother- and womanhood has done little if anything to benefit Rosemary.
  
Does anyone else think Polanski's film extends beyond messages about female objectification?

One thing I notice about Rosemary's Baby outside of this interpretation is the obvious use of Satanism and witchcraft as the villain in this film. While these were traditional ideas of evil, I think they're just another "other", another way to visually demonstrate the fears of society and show that anything or anyone can be corrupted. Dr. Saperstein who is supposed to represent the objective, ethical, and scientific medical doctor is a member of the cult and uses his power as an authority on obsterics to control Rosemary. Minne Castevets gives her an odd herbal drink. Normally the scientific and homeopathic, which was gaining popularity at this time would clash yet they come together to control Rosemary. This suggests that regardless of the approach to pregnancy, the new knowledge, or [lack of] technology used, medical/homeopathic professionals are just as vulnerable to their own bias as the next person, using their own profession's authority to carry out sociopolitcal agendas which threatened the very people that sought them for help.  This is interesting regarding that the 1960's were a time when in response to the AMA's fear-mongering regarding certain politicians as Communists and racism in the South, the view of doctors as ultimate authorities was fading.