About Abortion: Terminating Pregnancy in
Twenty-First-Century America
by Carol Sanger (Author)
One of the most private decisions a woman can make,
abortion is also one of the most contentious topics in American civic life.
Protested at rallies and politicized in party platforms, terminating pregnancy
is often characterized as a selfish decision by women who put their own
interests above those of the fetus. This background of stigma and hostility has
stifled women’s willingness to talk about abortion, which in turn distorts
public and political discussion. To pry open the silence surrounding this public
issue, Sanger distinguishes between abortion privacy, a form of nondisclosure
based on a woman’s desire to control personal information, and abortion
secrecy, a woman’s defense against the many harms of disclosure.
Laws regulating abortion patients and providers treat
abortion not as an acceptable medical decision―let alone a right―but as
something disreputable, immoral, and chosen by mistake. Exploiting the
emotional power of fetal imagery, laws require women to undergo ultrasound, a
practice welcomed in wanted pregnancies but commandeered for use against women
with unwanted pregnancies. Sanger takes these prejudicial views of women’s
abortion decisions into the twenty-first century by uncovering new connections
between abortion law and American culture and politics.
New medical technologies, women’s increasing
willingness to talk online and off, and the prospect of tighter judicial reins
on state legislatures are shaking up the practice of abortion. As talk becomes more
transparent and acceptable, women’s decisions about whether or not to become
mothers will be treated more like those of other adults making significant
personal choices.
