Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights

"Abortion is safe, it is—still—legal, but at more than a million procedures a year, it isn't all that rare. As Pro lays out in enraging detail, this is partly due to the religious right's efforts to restrict access to contraception, recently by branding certain methods as 'abortifacients' (contra science but now with the imprimatur of the Supreme Court) . . . Pollitt's exploration of the hypocrisy of abortion opponents—including the ‘inverse relationship between support for abortion restrictions and support for programs that help low-income pregnant women, babies and children'—is so witheringly encyclopedic it will be an eye opener for those who have never darkened the door of a women's studies classroom. Then again, there's a great deal of cognitive science indicating that the more evidence you bring to an argument, the more entrenched your opponents will become. So Pro may succeed best at galvanizing complacent pro-choicers who are newly alarmed at transvaginal ultrasounds, ‘legitimate rape' and the slut-shaming of contraception proponents . . . Motherhood is hard enough if you go into it willingly. And Pollitt is correct to insist that the right to an abortion is merely society's down payment on all the rights we are yet due."—Clara Jeffery, The New York Times Book Review

"An important book. In a little more than 200 pages, Pollitt has crafted a full-throated and convincing case to galvanize pro-choice voters and organizations against the erosion of abortion rights. It's a shield against concern trolls who cloak their anti-abortion laws in spurious faux sympathy for the safety of women, a sword to use when some politician cites a bogus study to promote another regressive law, and a beacon for women who have been too long fighting for their rights in the darkness of confusion brought on by well-organized agents of the religious right . . . Pro is constructed around a simple goal: to win the argument against anti-abortion prevarication. Pollitt has done her homework, and the passion she brings to the book is infectious, making for an intensely satisfying reading experience . . . Ultimately, Pollitt realizes, the argument against abortion doesn't come down to concern for the life of the unborn, or a moral certitude, or even a distaste for human sexuality. It's an argument against the freedom of women. Pollitt's fearlessness in exposing and dismissing the misogynist kernel at the center of the issue makes Pro the most fearlessly feminist book I've read in ages, a genuine work of bravery and scholarship and discourse."—Paul Constant, The Stranger

"[This] shouldn't be a radical message, but in an era when some feminists feel the need to defend the birth control pill by highlighting its use for reasons other than contraception, the very idea that we should insist that abortion is a good thing because it's good for women feels incredibly bold . . . ‘No one is pro-abortion' is a common refrain among liberals defending the right to choose. In the abstract, no, but if you need an abortion to live your life as you see fit, then pro-abortion is exactly what you are. Katha Pollitt has your back on this, and more pro-choicers should embrace her unapologetic approach."—Ms. Magazine

"A lucid and paassionate book."—Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com

"A dramatic, persuasive argument for abortion . . . Bolstered by dramatic statistics (‘excluding miscarriages, 21 percent of pregnancies end in abortion'), personal interviews, and historical references reaching as far back as ancient Greece and Egypt, Pollitt impressively makes her case while admitting that abortion clinics have become increasingly inaccessible and certain ‘pronatalist pundits' are holding women's intimately private pregnancy decisions up for public scrutiny . . . Pollitt's cogent opinion presents potent testimony on a woman's right to choose."—Kirkus Reviews

"An impassioned, persuasive case for understanding [abortion] in its proper context . . . With wit and logic, Pollitt debunks the many myths surrounding abortion, and analyzes what abortion opponents really oppose: namely, women's growing sexual freedom and power . . . With arguments that are both lucid and sensible, Pollitt successfully reframes the abortion debate to show that, ‘in the end, abortion is an issue of fundamental human rights.'"—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"In this powerful pro-choice treatise, Pollitt, the well-known feminist, poet, and award-winning columnist for the Nation, expertly lays out why she supports a woman's right to decide whether to end a pregnancy."—Booklist (starred review)