How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics and the War on Sex - Softcover

Cristina Page

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465054900 ISBN 13: 9780465054909

Publisher: Basic Books, 2006

Synopsis

With a new preface by the author. In the tradition of Backlash and The Morning After, and in a political climate where Roe v. Wade is in serious jeopardy, a young activist reveals that the Pro-Life Movement's real agenda is a war on contraception, family planning, and sexual freedom.

About this title

About the Author

Cristina Page is Vice President of the Institute for Reproductive Health Access of NARAL Pro-Choice New York. She lives with her husband and son in New York City.

Review

A provocative salvo in the abortion wars. Activist pro-lifers aren't just out to end abortion, charges Page, director of NARAL Pro-Choice New York's Institute for Reproductive Health Access; they aim even to ban contraception, roll back the sexual revolution and force women to stay in the kitchen. The author pointedly questions why anti-abortion advocates, who presumably would do anything to prevent unwanted pregnancies, oppose sex education in schools. Using rankings produced by the Children's Defense Fund, Page argues that pro-life congressmen consistently vote against children's interests on matters like gun control and education. The Bush administration is, unsurprisingly, a major villain here, due to such incidents as the FDA's refusal to grant over-the-counter status to emergency contraception-the result of pressure exerted by ill-qualified, ideologically zealous appointees, the author contends. Page, who believes Roe v. Wade may soon be overturned, concludes with chilling accounts of the desperate measures pregnant teenagers resort to when they can't get an abortion without parental consent. One 17-year-old persuaded her boyfriend to jump on her stomach until she miscarried; under the state's unborn victims of violence act, he was sentenced to life in prison. (The couple lived in Texas.) Occasionally, Page's charges are flat-out wrong. She repeatedly insists that pro-lifers believe that "the only acceptable reason for sex is procreation." Unlikely to persuade any dyed-in-the-wool pro-lifers, these arguments may well inspire fence-sitters or people with pro-choice leanings. (Such readers may wish the author had included an appendix listing ways to get involved in the pro-choice cause.) Stirring, if a little predictable. (Kirkus Reviews)

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0465054900
• ISBN 13: 9780465054909
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256