The Worst of Times

This collection of stories bluntly illustrates why having reproductive choice is essential to a society. The chilling stories from women, their families, the practitioners, the investigators, and the people who tried to patch up the women still rivals any horror-suspense movie which I've seen. I was particularly struck by Paula's recollection of her 1963 illegal abortion. The juxtaposition of the Miss America pageant airing while she was undergoing an illegal abortion (p. 225) reinforced the frustration that she felt at having to go to those depths. She got her abortion after finding out her husband left her because being a single parent was impossible in that era and temporarily going to a maternity home was impractical already with one young son. She explicitly notes that the contents of her uterus did not look like what is now displayed on anti-choice placards (pp. 226-227). Finally, she juxtaposed her daughter's 1991 legal abortion (pp. 227-229) to emphasize the critical difference that legalization made for women's physical and emotional health. Women occupy center stage in this anthology, but men's voices are also heard. Two powerful testimonies come from 'Dr. Bert' who said that 'it was the system and not the abortionist that killed her' (p. 195) and 'Coroner Fred' who emphatically said that after Roe v. Wade was decided 'the deaths stopped overnight in 1973 and I never saw another abortion death in all the 18 years after that until I retired' (p. 13). Both of those people are older than the 'baby boom generation' who were participating in the 'sexual revolution' and were not a part of it, but their experiences of what the 'good old days' were really like are a needed reality check---especially now. It is indicative of how little rights women really have if there are elected officials in this country eager to return us to those times. I reccomend this book to anybody needing to learn about reproductive politics.

When I first read this book I was so moved that I bought a dozen copies and have given them out whenever I run into a woman who thinks she's anti-abortion. It never fails to change their point of view. Having lost my best friend to an illegal abortion in 1971, I was overjoyed when Roe vs Wade came down. I am a woman who loves children and has adopted 3, but I fear greatly for my daughters and their daughters in a world where abortion will all too probably become illegal again.