Wrath of Angels

WOA is journalism as a seamless garment of teamwork. Risen and Thomas (who admirably write in one voice) lay out a chronology of anti-abortion activism that starts in non-violent picketing by a small group of post-Viet Nam war, socially-concerned Catholic pacifists, moving to criminal behavior as impressionable fundamentalists take up and dominate the cause, culminating in violence by the extreme fringe against abortion clinics and assaults and murder perpetrated on abortion providers. As I write this at the end of 2006, the 1998 paperback edition of this book is being remaindered, and the book may go out of print. This is too bad, as the determination amongst conservative Catholics and right-wing fundamentalists to make the US an anti-abortion society by law continues unabated since WOA's publication. With the centrist rebuke of the Bush government in 2006, one wonders if the increasingly marginalized religious right will once again become desperate enough to condone (or look the other way) a resurgence of violent activism of the sort documented so well by Risen and Thomas in WOA. Readers should be aware that activist anti-abortion forces are willing to achieve their goals by pluralities, not majorities, and by packing local political precincts with single-issue fellow ideologues, not to mention the courts and attorneys general. (I'm writing from Kansas where this is NO small matter) If there is one book to read on growth of the extreme anti-abortion movement, it should be this one. It humanizes the anti-abortion personalities (John O'Keefe, Joseph Scheidler, John Ryan, Randall Terry, Shelley Shannon, Joan Andrews) in ways that will even surprise staunch abortion rights advocates. WOA has an extensive bibliography to guide interested readers to further information, as well as a section of news photographs (it could have used MORE of these!). The journalistic style is dynamic, forward moving and vivid, a model of reportage, if not analysis. The reader is free to draw his/her own conclusions. The book is compromised, however, by stopping just short of portraying the religious motivations of the anti-abortion protagonists to the fullest. Even so, it does better by comparison than other works on the subject that simply dismissed the religious ideology that fueled and grew with the rise in anti-abortion activism in the 1980s and early '90s.

The deepest feeling I come away with is a "You were there" sort of idea. Details are vivid - my favorite is the depiction of the first Right to Life march in D.C., when police went to arrest some of the protestors, who happened to be Pentecostals who suddenly felt the Spirit, began speaking in tongues and rolling on the ground. The police retreated, briefly. Of course, given such vivid "you were there" detail, one has to question how much of this account is mere perspective, how much is fact. As such, it is a useful, though not central, work in studying the pro-life movement, and certainly not a theological or sociological treatise. The book accomplishes what it intends to do, which is to describe the development of the pro-life movement in very human terms. For that it earns 4 stars.

Like many children of the 1970's and 1980's I grew up seeing clinic protests on the nightly news---and was initially bewildered by the actions. The desire to stop legal abortion by killing medical personnel and destroying clinic property seemed to contradict itself even to a seventh grader who was only begining to become involved with feminist politics. For instance, Jehovah's Witnesses do not personally believe in undergoing blood/organ transfusions, but they are respectful enough to avoid terrorizing the local medical facilities which do offer these services. In this gripping work, Risen traces the evolution of the American anti-choice movement. Disatisfaction with the pace of action from early days naturally gave rise to a violent 'fringe' who were actually known to the 'respectable' movement leaders---if not publically supported by these same figures. The early theory held the resulting good/bad cop routine would enable the mainstream anti-abortion movement leaders to ban the procedure faster than if they were the only ones working in the movmenet. Because there are many books analyzing these actions from a second-person perspective and draw exclusively on the testimony of pro-choice activists and/or public officials, it is important that he included interviews with the perpetrators themselves. Personally pro-choice, he is nevertheless critical of intra-movement organizing tactics which inadvertently allowed anti-abortion protestors to gain critical ground in Wichita and elsewhere. Good organizing also involves the ability of a person and their allies to know when and how to self-scrutinize actions for future improvement plans. Still disagreeing with individuals who would restrict reproductive rights for others and especially the violent protestors, I now understand the extent of their political network and enduring impact on American politics. The 'moderates' are quiet only because they realize a growing segment of the American public has also made connections between their rhetoric and 'extremist' actions.

Though I am pro-choice, the book does a great service in humanizing the anti-abortion forces and in presenting them as three-dimensional characters, not media stereotypes. As Joel Dyer's Harvest of Rage did (less well) for the militia movement, this book reminds readers that there are real people on both sides of the issue, and that progress is unlikely unless their complexity is taken into account. The journalism is thorough, the writing is clear and graceful, and the story is compelling. An excellent and insightful treatment.

Wrath of Angels is hard-hitting, objective, scary. From governmental agencies more concerned about their egos than solving clinic bombings, to the terrorist praising God in prayer and song while driving from a clinic she just torched, it is not only scary; it is sickening. Whether Catholic or fundamentalist, from the left or the right, blockades or bombings or shootings, these are people who believe they have some message from God to deny women the ability to make personal, medical decisions about their reproductive lives. Each part of the story is told in a way that gives readers the opportunity to make up their own minds and judge for themselves the appropriateness of these actions. Certainly, I knew long before reading this book what I believe. This will likely be true for most readers of this book. But seeing the wrath of these people who see themselves as God's agents documented with such detail and comprehension will, nonetheless, add new and deeper understanding of these people who call themselves "pro-life."