Reviews with content warning for Infertility - You're the Only One I've Told: The Stories Behind Abortion

Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

You're the Only One I've Told: The Stories Behind Abortion by Meera Shah

12 reviews

reallife_kazbrekker's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Very good book with lots of valuable information. I thought I knew a lot about the subject of abortion already as someone who is pretty vocal about being pro choice, but I still learned a couple new things!
Highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more!

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cassidy_rain's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

“My hope is that this collection of stories about abortion will enable others to share theirs. Opening up about a personal experience, let alone a controversial one, is scary. But with risk comes reward. Stories have power.”

You’re The Only One I’ve Told is a powerful and informative collection of stories of women/child-bearing persons who have had abortions. The author is a reproductive health doctor who performs abortions and aims to end the stigma against the medical procedure.

I really appreciate how this is informative, yet takes a compassionate and empathic approach to the subject matter. I’m someone who already vehemently believes in a person’s right to choose. I work in healthcare and have studied health education and women’s health, and this even left with me some things to think about. I really enjoyed the storytelling with information and facts sprinkled throughout each chapter. You can learn a lot in an easy to digest manner. There are so many scenarios when someone may need or want an abortion and this does a great job of diving into that nuance.

“There is no such thing as a good abortion or a bad abortion or someone who is worthy of an abortion or someone who is not.”

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natreadthat's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I wish I had read this sooner. It feels almost dystopian after the overturn of Roe v. Wade (what doesn’t feel dystopian lately?). As you can imagine, this isn’t a fun read you chit-chat about. It is, however, a crucial book, especially in today’s political climate. Why are the decisions of pregnant people—often made together with their partner—political? Who the hell knows.

What I do know is that abortion has become a major political argument, and the loudest voices are not the people who have actually had the procedure done. One in four American women will have an abortion, for a multitude of reasons, at some point in their lives. You’re the Only One I’ve Told shares the accounts of people who have. People who were young, people who couldn’t financially support another child, people who were in abusive relationships, people whose babies wouldn’t survive or would only know a life of pain, people who so badly wanted a baby. People shouldn’t have to be vulnerable in order for the world to listen and it shouldn’t be considered brave for doing so, but these people are. It’s the least we can do to listen.

As a Texan/US woman, it’s been horrifying to have my rights stripped away. As a woman who has fortunately never had to make this decision, I learned so much from this book and what people seeking reproductive health care truly face. Stats, high costs, arbitrary waiting periods, time limits, restrictions, state-sponsored scripts not based on medical science, misinformation.

Written by Dr. Shah, a reproductive health doctor, believes that medical care should be patient-centered and evidence-based. I’m not sure how you couldn’t agree with that. As someone who’s obviously pro-choice, I believe people who live in the Land of the Free deserve the freedom to choose what happens with their body. I hope you take the time to read this book and do so with an open heart.

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stirlingluci's review

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

no matter your views, this is a must read. it has an incredible amount of information, stories, and compassion

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blissofalife's review

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emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I would recommend this book to anyone who wanted to understand the nuances of abortion and see how it affects everybody.

Very informative, very well written. I didn’t love switching narrators on the audiobook, one was clear and loud the other was soft and fuzzy.

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percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Even as a staunch "pro-choice" activist, this book opened my eyes to many situations and facts about reproductive health that I was not aware of. After reading You're the Only One I've Told, I went straight to my friends that are in relationships and most at risk for impromptu pregnancies and relayed information that I felt was valuable to know. For example, I did not realize that the majority of insurance companies didn't cover abortion, and that abortion was so expensive. Logically, it makes sense given the political climate around abortion, but I was so caught up in whether or not abortion would be criminalized, that I never thought about other roadblocks that could prevent proper reproductive health care.

Because of this new information, I became more aware of the privilege of simply not being in a relationship. I don't have to worry about accidental pregnancy or abortion and all the nuances that come with it. I am so thankful for not just the author for putting together this anthology of stories, but also for being candid about facts, AND for the people who consented to their stories being published. I felt like Dr. Shah's point about the visibility of stories was so poignant after reading this book.

I think my only critique was that I wish that more queer perspectives could've been included, especially a trans man's experience. There really isn't enough about what it is like to be a trans man and experience something like pregnancy, whether wanted or not. However, I loved that Dr. Shah included the perspective of a man because they are integral to the conversation about abortion, just not in the way people expect. As well, Dr. Shah attempts to honor any perspective she could not include in the book in her introduction, and I understand that it would be impossible to represent everyone in one book.

Perhaps with more awareness of this topic, and the ability to speak more freely, more experiences and voices can be lifted up and heard. I highly recommend this book and hope more like it follow.

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