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It is about time, forty years after Roe v. Wade, to finally demystify abortion. One-third of all American women will have an abortion by the time they are 45, and most of those women are already mothers. Yet, the topic remains taboo. Even amidst MTV's 16 & Pregnant, depictions of or even discussion about abortion remains almost nonexistent. In this provocative book, Sarah Erdreich gives us a new way of thinking about abortion–one based in the reality of women's lives.
Publishers Weekly:
In her first book, journalist and women's health advocate Erdreich delivers a passionate study of the past, current, and future state of the pro-choice movement in America. This is a thoughtful and comprehensive treatment of one side of an emotionally charged topic.
Kirkus Reviews:
In her first book, pro-abortion rights activist Erdreich tries to bring some clarity and reason to the arguments around a woman’s right to choose in light of recent attempts to restrict that right.
A new generation of women takes Roe v. Wade for granted, but the author sees this cavalier attitude engendering a dangerous apathy and shortsightedness in terms of checking the encroachments on that landmark law that have been gradually gaining since the Hyde Amendment of 1976 (prohibiting federal funding for abortion). In several sagaciously researched essays, Erdreich presents some of the voices of women who choose abortion and why. She examines the nuances that we need to hear, even if the reasons cause others to examine their own beliefs and biases; the lack of training in abortion by medical students and others in the medical profession, even though abortion has become one of the most common surgical procedures in America; the misrepresentation in film and media about women who choose abortion; and a litany of creeping restrictions on the law across the country. Since President Barack Obama's election of 2008, harassment of and violence against abortion providers and clinics have risen, exemplified most tragically by the murder of Dr. George Tiller, a Wichita doctor shot by protestors in May 2009. Despite the Federal Access to Clinic Entrances law of 1994, clinics and providers are continually threatened, scaring potential providers away and closing doors to needy women. Erdreich points to the enormous headway the LGBTQ rights movement has made in comparison to the taboos still surrounding women’s basic right to choice.
An honest probing of law, public perception and conscience in the abortion debate.
Katha Pollitt:
Sarah Erdreich zeroes in on the central paradox of abortion in America: one in three women will have at least one abortion by menopause, but the anti-choice movement is scoring victory after victory. Stigma and shame--and, let's not forget, fear of anti-choice violence -- keep too many women from speaking out even as their rights are whittled away. Can the young activists of Generation Roe revitalize the pro-choice movement? If you want to know what they're thinking, this book is a great place to begin.
Jennifer Baumgardner, author of Manifesta and Abortion & Life:
Each generation experiences the battles for reproductive choice uniquely. Sarah Erdreich digs into our current terrain -- one of crisis pregnancy centers, the lulling effect of Roe, and the introduction of a new cadre of young activists online -- to illustrate the morality and urgency that animate the right to abortion.
