Scan barcode
olicooper's review against another edition
4.0
This book does a great job at shining a bright light on who is most impacted by restrictive abortion laws: the poor, the rural, and women of color.
Oberman researched in El Salvador - a country with an abortion ban--without exception; but she also spends time in Oklahoma after they passed some of our country's most "pro-life" states as well as looking at U.S. cases against women for abortion related crimes.
The facts are maddening and the impact these laws have when enforced are very specifically targeted towards the most marginalized women.
She talks to both pro-life and pro-choice activists and lawmakers. With each side, she remains objective and open to listening and understanding. She closes her book urging for deep conversation and a meaningful discourse, which I fully support. it may not change anyone's opinion, but it can lead to a better understanding of one another. After all, none of us are two-dimensional cartoon villains.
I will say that the book tended to focus on cases where women were in the most desperate of situations, which I feel does a disservice to all women's right to privacy and bodily integrity. I suppose this is to highlight how restrictive laws particularly impact these groups. And for the most part, from what we see from the number of illegal abortions and the cases that are actually prosecuted for it, it seems like women of privilege mostly go without consequence. But our right to privacy and bodily autonomy are something most sacred, and I fear making arguments that solely center around exceptions such as rape or incest can have dangerous implications. To be fair-- Oberman is not just arguing for these exceptions, and she does bring up the right to privacy being key to Roe v. Wade. It's just when I hear defenses for abortion that only consider tragic and desperate scenarios as to why a women would chose to have an abortion, it undermines the decision of women who were not in those situations.
Oberman researched in El Salvador - a country with an abortion ban--without exception; but she also spends time in Oklahoma after they passed some of our country's most "pro-life" states as well as looking at U.S. cases against women for abortion related crimes.
The facts are maddening and the impact these laws have when enforced are very specifically targeted towards the most marginalized women.
She talks to both pro-life and pro-choice activists and lawmakers. With each side, she remains objective and open to listening and understanding. She closes her book urging for deep conversation and a meaningful discourse, which I fully support. it may not change anyone's opinion, but it can lead to a better understanding of one another. After all, none of us are two-dimensional cartoon villains.
I will say that the book tended to focus on cases where women were in the most desperate of situations, which I feel does a disservice to all women's right to privacy and bodily integrity. I suppose this is to highlight how restrictive laws particularly impact these groups. And for the most part, from what we see from the number of illegal abortions and the cases that are actually prosecuted for it, it seems like women of privilege mostly go without consequence. But our right to privacy and bodily autonomy are something most sacred, and I fear making arguments that solely center around exceptions such as rape or incest can have dangerous implications. To be fair-- Oberman is not just arguing for these exceptions, and she does bring up the right to privacy being key to Roe v. Wade. It's just when I hear defenses for abortion that only consider tragic and desperate scenarios as to why a women would chose to have an abortion, it undermines the decision of women who were not in those situations.
spookymessreads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
emilyslusarz's review against another edition
3.0
While I do like this book, and the overall premise was good, the execution was done poorly in my opinion. At times I cringed at the content, not because it was difficult situations being discussed, but because of the writing of Oberman. The language seemed very odd to me at some places, especially the beginning. I will say, however, that this book opened my mind a lot. And while I still hold the same opinions as I did before reading, I think I can better analyze situations and see both sides of the abortion argument. Along with that, the first hand accounts are what really hit home and what made the book stand out to me.
lyndseyreader's review against another edition
5.0
"Our mutual contempt leaves us locked in debate over the question of whether abortion should be legal. And as we've seen, that question is not serving us well. It's distracting us from the better question of how we think things will change if abortion is illegal."
Excellent and thoroughly notated history of abortion laws and what abortion bans actually accomplish. TLDR: abortion rates are not reduced and poor women unduly bear the consequences of these bans.
Oberman is upfront about her pro-choice stance but is kind and authentic in her inclusion of pro-life narratives and views. I say this as someone who used to be passionately "pro-life." I wish I could put a copy of this in everyone's hands as it seems this issue will be front and center in coming elections.
Excellent and thoroughly notated history of abortion laws and what abortion bans actually accomplish. TLDR: abortion rates are not reduced and poor women unduly bear the consequences of these bans.
Oberman is upfront about her pro-choice stance but is kind and authentic in her inclusion of pro-life narratives and views. I say this as someone who used to be passionately "pro-life." I wish I could put a copy of this in everyone's hands as it seems this issue will be front and center in coming elections.
rachelnose's review against another edition
2.0
The author’s research is interesting and admirable. I found that the book was poorly written and did not convey her research very well though.
mickified's review against another edition
2.0
Let me start this review by saying the subject matter, and the interviews conducted by the author, are riveting. However, the book itself is not written in a way that does these topics justice. For her effort - and the fact that technically there's no rules on the books that says that writing needs a clear thesis statement, that things presented as fact shouldn't be skewed by the author's opinions of the topics or of how difficult the subject was to interview, and that chapters shouldn't be written with a series of "Point Z, but before we get there, it's really crucial to understand Point Y" - I'm giving this 2 stars instead of one. I applaud her hard work and diving into such sensitive subject matter, but I wish the execution was up to par.