No Choice: The Fall of Roe v. Wade and the Fight to Protect the Right to Abortion by Becca Andrews. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via Netgalley included. No affiliate links were used. Read my full disclosure policy here.
No Choice: The Fall of Roe v. Wade and the Fight to Protect the Right to Abortion by Becca Andrews is an in-depth look at the history of abortion rights in America. Andrews uses her skill as a journalist to examine the fallout from the US Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and rolled back 50 years of abortion access.
While the book’s focus is on abortion rights, Andrews is clear that these rights must be part of the broader reproductive justice framework. This is illustrated through interviews with people who have had abortions, abortion providers, and activists giving the reader a deep understanding of how reproductive justice isn't an abstract concept but profoundly impacts people's lives.
Andrews shows great care when writing about or telling people’s abortion stories, be they people she spoke to directly for the book or experiences shared elsewhere. This care is also evident when discussing Norma McCorvey, the ‘Jane Roe’ in the Roe v. Wade case, whose story is complex. McCorvey did not get the abortion she wanted. The landmark ruling came years after her daughter's birth and subsequent adoption. McCorvey later worked for anti-abortion organisations. Although, in an interview before her death, she was quoted as saying, “I took their money, and they’d put me out in front of the cameras and tell me what to say.” and “If a young woman wants to have an abortion, that’s no skin off my ass. That’s why they call it choice.”
No Choice will make you angry but also make you appreciate the continued work of activists, abortion funds, clinic escorts and clinic defenders.
No Choice: The Fall of Roe v. Wade and the Fight to Protect the Right to Abortion by Becca Andrews is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group. No Choice is available in hardback, ebook, and audiobook format.
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