Abortion
(see also Reproductive Rights & Domestic Terrorism)
Basics
On the Web: Articles
Facts on Induced Abortion World Wide. Guttmacher Institute (10/07).
A Tragic Death & Other Tragic Deaths. Juan Cole (4/1/05).
Has Violence Killed the Anti-Abortion Movement? Jeff Stein, Salon (4/28/99).
Legal But...Framing the Ethics of Abortion Rights. Marlene Gerber Fried, Resist Newsletter (4/98).
On the Web: Specialized Sites
Atheist & Agnostic Pro-Life League.
California Abortion & Reproductive Rights Action League (CARAL).
Democrats for Life of America.
Feminist Majority Foundation Online.
International Planned Parenthood Federation.
National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL).
Physicians for Reproductive Choice & Health.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Westchester Coalition for Legal Abortion.
Women's Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP)
In the Library: Articles
Dahlberg, Charles C. ""Abortion," in Ralph Slovenko (ed.) Sexual Behavior & the Law (Springfield IL: Charles Thomas, 1965).
Guiden, Mary. "Abortion's guerrilla war," Nation (6/26/00):6-7. On "pro-life" activities of Texas-based Life Dynamics, Inc.
Orrick, Phyllis. "Pro-fight: the uses & misuses of the abortion debate," Berkeley Express 20,41 (7/17/98).
Paley, Rebecca. "End of the road: in the twilight of his career, one of the oldest living late-term abortion doctors tells all," Mother Jones (9-10/03):83-87.
Pollitt, Katha. “In the middle of the muddle,” Nation (5/25/92):718. Debate on abortion.
__________. "With facts on our side," Nation (11/5/07).
Schoen, Johanna. "Reconceiving abortion: medical practice, women's access, & feminist politics before & after Roe vs. Wade," Feminist Studies 26 (2000):349-76.
Terry, Randall A. "Operation rescue: the civil rights movement of the 90s," Policy Review 47 (win 89).
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Bandarage, Asoka. Women, Population & Global Crisis (London: Zed, 1997).
Bernardin, Cardinal Joseph. The Seamless Garment (Kansas City: National Catholic Reporter, 1984).
Blanchard, Dallas A. The Anti-Abortion Movement & the Rise of the Religious Right: From Polite to Fiery Protest (NY: Twayne, 1994).
Calderone, Mary (ed.) Abortion in the US (NY: Harper's, 1958).
Cuneo, Michael W. Catholics Against the Church: Anti-Abortion Protest in Toronto, 1969-1985 (Toronto: U. Toronto, 1989).
Davis, Nanette. From Crime to Choice: The Transformation of Abortion in America (Westport CT: Greenwood, 1985).
Dennehy, Raymond. Anti-Abortionists at Large: How to Debate Abortion Intelligently & Live to Talk About It (Victoria BC: Trafford, 2002).
Doerr, Edd & James W. Prescott. Abortion Rights & Fetal "Personhood" (Washington: Americans for Religious Liberty, 199?).
Dombrowski, Daniel A. Babies & Beasts: The Argument from Marginal Cases (Urbana: U. Illinois, 1997).
__________ & Robert Deltete. A Brief, Liberal, Catholic Defense of Abortion (Urbana: U. Illinois, 2000).
Everett, Carol with Jack Shaw. Blood Money: Getting Rich Off a Woman's Right to Choose (Sisters OR: Multnomah, 1992).
Faúndes, Aníbal & José S. Barzelatto. The Human Drama of Abortion: A Global Search for Consensus (Nashville TN: Vanderbilt U., 2006).
Ferree, Myra Marx & Others. Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy & the Public Sphere in Germany & the US (NY: Cambridge, 2002).
Garrow, David J. Liberty & Sexuality: The Right to Privacy & the Making of Roe v. Wade (NY: Macmillan, 1994).
Gentles, Ian (ed.) A Time to Choose Life: Women, Abortion & Human Rights (Toronto: Stoddart, 1990).
Ginsburg, Faye. Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in an American Community (Berkeley: U. of California, 1989).
Gorney, Cynthia. Articles of Faith: A Frontline History of the Abortion Wars (NY: Simon & Schuster, 2000).
Grossman, Atina. Reforming Sex: The German Movement for Birth Control & Abortion Reform, 1920-1950 (NY: Oxford, 1995).
Guinn, Melani Gail. Figuring the Fetus: A Rhetorical Analysis of American Anti-Abortion Discourse in the 19th & 20th C. (unpub. PhD.; U. of California, Berkeley, 1996).
Hall, Robert E. (ed.) Abortion in a Changing World (2 vols.; NY: Columbia, 1970).
Jascalevich, Mario. The Abortionist: by Dr. X as Told to Lucy Freeman (NY: Grove, 1963).
Luker, Kristin. Abortion & the Politics of Motherhood (Bereley: U. of California, 1985).
Maguire, D.C. (ed.) Sacred Rights: The Case for Contraception & Abortion in World Religions (NY: Oxford, 2003).
Mason, Carol. Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics (Ithaca NY: Cornell, 2002). Relates language of anti-abortion movement to that of White supremacy.
Matthewes-Green, Frederica. Real Choices: Listening to Women, Looking for Alternatives to Abortion (Ben Lomond CA: Conciliar, 1997).
Merton, Andrew H. Enemies of Choice: The Right-to-Life Movement & Its Threat to Abortion (Boston: Beacon, 1981).
Moskowitz, Mark L. The Haunting Fetus: Abortion, Sexuality & the Spirit World in Taiwan (Honolulu: U. of Hawai'i, 2001).
O'Reilly, Emily. Masterminds of the Right (Dublin: Attic, 1992).
Overstreet, Edwin W. (ed.) Therapeutic Abortion & Sterilization (NY: Harper & Row, 1964).
Paige, Connie. The Right to Lifers: Who They Are, How They Operate, & Where They Get Their Money (NY: Summit, 1983).
Petchesky, Rosalind. Abortion & Woman's Choice: The State, Sexuality, & Reproductive Freedom [1984] (Boston: Northeastern U, 1990).
Purdy, Laura M. Reproducing Persons. Issues in Feminist Bioethics (Ithaca: Cornell, 1996).
Reagan, Leslie J. When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, & Law in the US, 1867-1973 (Berkeley: U. California, 1996).
Reiter, Jerry. Live from the Gates of Hell: An Insider's Look at the Antiabortion Underground (Amherst NY: Prometheusl, 2000).
Rosen, Harold (ed.) Therapeutic Abortion (NY: Julian, 1954).
Saletan, William. Rearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War (Berkeley: University of California, 2003).
Schroedel, Jean Reith. Is the Fetus a Person? A Comparison of Policies Across the Fifty States (Ithaca: Cornell, 2000).
Smith, David T. (ed.) Abortion & the Law (Cleveland: Case Western Reserve, 1967).
Solinger, Rickie. Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy & Race before Roe v. Wade (NY: Routledge, 1992).
__________. The Abortionist. A Woman Against the Law (Berkeley: U. California, 1996).
__________. Beggars & Choosers: How the Politics of Choice Shapes Adoption, Abortion, & Welfare in the US (NY: Hill & Wang, 2001). Explores the heavy cost to the reproductive rights movement of the shift in the 80s to a middle-class rhetoric "choice".
Wagner, Theresa A.(ed.) Back to the Drawing Board: The Future of the Pro-Life Movement (South Bend IN: St. Augustine's, 2003).
Wicklund, Susan with Alan Kesselheim. This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor (NY: Public Affairs, 2007). Invaluable, clear-headed memoir of a humane practitioner at work in the teeth of a never-ending storm.
Yarnold, Barbara. Abortion Politics in the Federal Courts: Right vs. Right (Westport CT: Praeger, 1975).
X, Dr. The Abortionist, by Dr. X as told to Lucy Freeman (NY: Doubleday, 1962).
In the Library: Fiction
Ebersole, Lucinda & Richard Peabody (eds.) Coming to Terms: A Literary Response to Abortion (NY: New Press, 1994).
Fast, Howard. The Trial of Abigail Goodman (NY: Crown, 1993).
Ferriss, Lucy. The Misconceiver: A Novel (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1997).
McKinney-Whetstone, Diane. Leaving Cecil Street (NY: William Morrow, 2004).
Frucht, Abby. Are You Mine? (NY: Grove, 1993).
Irving, John. The Cider House Rules: A Novel (NY: Morrow, 1985).
Patterson, Richard North. Protect & Defend (NY: Ballantine, 2001).
Piercy, Marge. Braided Lives: A Novel [1982] (NY: Ballantine, 1997).
Robinson, Sue. The Amendment: A Novel (NY: Birch Lane, 1990).
Rosenblatt, Roger. Abortion in the American Mind (NY: Random House, 1992).
Townsend, Sue. Ghost Children (NY: Soho, 1998).
Warner, Sharon Oard. Deep in the Heart (NY: Dial, 2000).
Wertenbaker, Lael Tucker. The Afternoon Women (Boston: Little, Brown, 1966)
In the Library: For Young Readers
In the Library: Poetry
In the Library: Drama
In the Library: Photography
CD & Audio
Film & Video
"4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days" [2007], dir. Cristian Mungiu, 113m. Story of an illegal abortion in 1987 Romania.
"Back-Alley Detroit: Abortion Before Roe v. Wade" [?], dir. Daniel Friedman & Sharon Grimberg, 47m. From Filmakers Library.
"Casting the First Stone" [1991 ], dir. Julie Gustafson, 54m. From First Run/Icarus.
"Citizen Ruth" [1997], dir. Alexander Payne, 105m. In video stores.
"Cora Unashamed" [2000], dir. Deborah M. Pratt, 120m. Moving drama of a Black family surviving poverty & racism in small-town Iowa before & during Depression, including vivid portrayal of circumstances & consequences of an illegal abortion.
"Dear Doctor Spencer: Abortion in a Small Town" [?], dir. Danielle Renfrew & Beth Seltzer, 25m. From Concentric Media.
"The Fragile Promise of Choice" [1996], by Dorothy Fadiman, Daniel Meyers & Beth Seltzer, 57m. From Women Make Movies.
"From Danger To Dignity: The Fight For Safe Abortion" [?], dir. Dorothy Fadiman, Beth Seltzer & Daniel Meyers, 57m. From Concentric Media.
"I Witness" [1998], dir. Janet Goldwater & Barbara Attie, 57m. From Cinema Guild. Impact on community of murder of abortion providers in Pensacola, FL.
"If These Walls Could Talk" [1996 ], dir. Nancy Savoca & Cher, 95m. In video stores. Vignettes about abortion in 1950s, 70s & 90s.
"Jane: An Abortion Service" [?], dir. dir. Kate Kirtz & Nell Lundy, 60m. From Women Make Movies.
"Leona's Sister Gerri" [?], dir. Jane Gillooly, 57m. From New Day Films.
"Motherless: A Legacy of Loss from Illegal Abortions" [?], dir. Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater & Diane Pontius, 30m. From Cinema Guild.
"Vera Drake" [2004], dir. Mike Leigh, 125m. In video stores. Family life, work, character & trial of a kindly British provider of illegal abortions in 1950s.
"When Abortion Was Illegal: Untold Stories" [?], dir. Dorothy Fadiman, 28m. From Concentric Media.