When there is no choice
24 essays on abortion show that when scaled back to an individual context, the politics of the womb melt away
By Sarah M Seltzer
Published: January 2nd, 2008 | 3:12pm
The word “choice” has become so politically loaded that even pro-choice Democrats at a recent debate spoke about abortion as a “right to privacy.” Meanwhile the pro-choice movement has been flirting with the term “reproductive justice” to signify that they support women making all decisions, which means things like surrogate parenthood and single parenthood and freedom from forced sterilization — and, yes, abortion too.
In the midst of this delicate semantic ballet comes an essay collection with the simple title Choice
We read about the danger posed by men: a German woman’s life-altering affair with a GI, a college basketball player who manipulates his girlfriend and then abandons her when she’s pregnant. We see the consequences of abortion clinic’s funds being siphoned off for legal battles when we meet a woman who takes the abortion pill RU-486 and is horribly sick for months.
We read about individuals’ anger when their choices are blocked. Gramont’s essay describes how a painful miscarriage turns her off to pro-choice rhetoric. We read about the legal hurdles faces by a lesbian who is dying to conceive, and the devoted relationship between a woman and the surrogate carrying her baby. And then there’s the young girl who gets pregnant the first time she has sex, is forced to go to a home for unwed mothers, and sees her daughter for mere seconds before she’s taken away.
This is not a collection to be read all at once — the emotional intensity is too intense. But a slow perusal of these stories, giving each a chance to settle in, feels entirely necessary even now, when reproductive freedoms are still being contended. In fact, it would do very well as a semester-long sex ed curriculum, and a reading might benefit some members our government, particularly male ones.
The beauty of Choice is not that it reveals reproduction as a deeply complex and individual issue — which it does — but that it carries such a strong warning about the consequences of curtailing women’s options. Whether we limit women by taking away funds for abortions or through miseducation that robs them of sexual agency, whether we take away the right of lesbians to adopt, or take away a young girls’ baby because she is unwed, we are causing a ripple of pain that will be felt for generations.
And so although each essay in this collection is different, the message they send is overwhelmingly the same: leaving decisions in the hands of women is the most respectful, and humane choice our society can make.
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ABOUT THIS BOOK
Choice: True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood, and Abortion
Edited by Karen E. Bender
349 pages
List Price: $15
Issue #29
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