Private Matter

Lader spotlights the struggle for abortion rights, discusses the brutal clinic murders in Pensacola and Boston, and argues that RU 486 could markedly reduce clinical abortions by making the termination of a pregnancy a 'private matter'.

Lader, president of Abortion Rights Mobilization (ARM) and founder of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (presently known as the National Abortion Rights Action League), seems to have heeded past critiques of his books (e.g., RU 486, LJ 4/15/90), as this latest is more informational and less confrontational than earlier offerings. He updates readers on the status of RU 486, the "morning-after" abortifacient, in the United States. Under Lader's guidance, ARM orchestrated the 1993 trip to London of pregnant Leona Benten to procure and bring RU 486, an unapproved drug, into the United States under the "personal use" exemption. ARM also arranged for expedited U.S. production of the drug after the French patent-holding company exercised foot-dragging methods to stall the drug's entry into the U.S. market. About half this book is a history of abortion; the other half is on RU-486, world overpopulation, and the attacks on U.S. women's health clinics by anti-abortionists. Lader continually emphasizes that nothing short of total struggle will achieve justice. His fighting spirit is as evident here as it has been throughout his career. Recommended for all libraries.?Paula N. Arnold, Vermont Coll. Lib., Norwich Univ., Montpelier
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.