Abortion Books

This book does a fine job on discussing the debates on the abortion issue these days. Anyone who is interested in reading about what the issues really are should take a look at this book.

This is quite possibly the most eloquently written book filled with a multitude of facts. I used this as a reference for a thesis paper, and it was a tremendous help. I advise anyone even remotely concerned with abortion to get this book. You wont regret it!

I found this book to have an excellent philosophical analysis of the Abortion issues that haunt our socienty today. Brody takes the individual choice out of abortion and makes it society's choice.

The rapid current pace of state politics and interrelated developments (for every action there remains an opposite reaction) would initially make inclusion of this particular work in reproductive policy cannons both inconsequential and redundant upon initial evaluation by a harried reader, even if they themselves are students of this particular policy area.

Because there is no shortage of other texts to delve into and analyze over an exotic cup of cappuccino, a reader's initial conclusion might be to simply consign this comparatively early individual work to the ever-growing list of past works (by implication previously but not currently helpful with anything) and skip over it entirely in exclusive focus on newer research which theoretically addresses today's policy environments more accurately. Decidedly not uncommon, activating and following this binary would be a profound injustice for both the individual reader and the larger society.

Since the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade completely legalized abortion in the first three months of pregnancy, abortion has been a perpetual favorite of all political viewpoints who clamor for their representation at the state and federal levels. This same climate however means several 'current event' research compilations on state politics (as opposed to historical perspectives) run the risk of themselves appearing dangerously outdated only a few years after publication precisely because of the rapid pace of legislative history in 21st century politics. Even by the time the book has been printed, the issues (barring the truly unique circumstances) have been debated and votes cast, leaving opponents the recourse of passing counteracting legislation or attempting various legal maneuvers to reverse the policy effects.

Politics is supposedly about thoughtful long-term planning for the greater common good, but it's modern incarnation also includes carefully strategized moments for the benefits of potential voters---and unfortunately political action groups from all sides of the political spectrum. Because votes are the only method by which each group can truly discern whether elected officials have lived up to their position on an issue (and figure into support or opposition) it is in each official's best interest to undertake abortion votes early enough and often so those same votes can promptly become recorded for posterity as evidence.

Unfortunately for the casual reader not intending to do expansive research, this same dichotomy is frustrating and may ironically be one of the many factors contributing to a noted decline in general citizen satisfaction with the political process. If people are more concerned with going through the motions of public participation as opposed to actually doing it, potentially interested individuals may internalize the same process as closed and/or inherently difficult to keep up with, thereby shutting themselves out of very critical debates governing their own lives and health.

A set of political statistics, no matter how compelling in their own time may eventually find itself unable to contribute as fiercely to modern portraits, themselves replete with equally pressing challenges. Both scholars and lay public need not fear however because this 1995 book transitions itself nicely (however informally) into the latter category without any problems. The wealth of information contained within the collection transcends time, thereby imparting powerful lessons for today's researchers who coincidentally would otherwise have a difficult time locating the same information from multiple obscure sources and several newspapers of record.

Particularly of interest to this approach is the chapter on Arizona state politics and how initial party identification is not always correspondent to political ideology of the individual. In, 1992 the late arch conservative Barry Goldwater, considered the godfather of the New Right (which made attacks on abortion one of its many defining hallmarks) personally opposed a state constitutional measure which would have banned most abortions.

Goldwater's reasoning strangely echoed that which 'liberal/radical' feminists had previously used for years (including initial campaigns for abortion rights) directly tying women's reproductive access into their larger stake within society---and gendered opposition as large-scale and systematic. It was both hypocritical and fundamentally anti-conservative to oppose international threat of intrusion into citizen's private lives via communism, and then attempt to carve out a special caveat exemptor for women and other historically subordinated communities (including GLBT Americans) precisely because they were also traditionally defined as mutually exclusive to the status quo.

Because America still likes to pride itself on freedom and tolerance, exposure of the dichotomy from within the proverbial ranks no less set off a storm of controversy. Mr Conservative himself ultimately did the previously unthinkable and endorsed a pro-choice Democratic female over a fellow Republican who had earnestly attempted to campaign to voters using Goldwater's previous internationally-recognized likeness without fully bothering to understand the genuine political sincerity behind these same pronouncements. Rather than talking about how conservative he was, Goldwater was able to demonstrate it to the voters by his words and actions.

Still vehemently disagreeing with him on the importance of the great society and other social welfare programs, I personally came away from the chapter with a greater appreciation of his own political positioning and background. Because the term 'conscience' is also freely tossed about by people of all political parties (including former Goldwater associates who abandoned conservatism in favor of promoting fascism) seeing an actual account was refreshing.

Well worth it's featured acquisition price, this book is a mandate for social scientists from all perspectives. Even if it does transgress policy of spending valuable public monies on only recently published non-fiction books (to guard against inaccurate statistics) an exception should clearly be made for this title since the work featured within is not likely to be found else where.

This small paperback is a rich guide to the details of virtually all contraceptive choices available to Americans. This is Planned Parenthood's third book that focuses on health and sexuality issues. Despite the organization's obvious support of contraception, the material is presented with regard to individual religious or moral beliefs. Essentially, each type of birth control is presented with a listing of the pros and cons. One particularly helpful chapter addresses the question of how to choose the right contraception for yourself. This would be a good guide for anyone choosing birth control for the first time or considering a new method.

From the L.A. Times Book Review

Hurley's editing technique has many strong points and relatively few, if any, areas that are lacking. By placing opposing views right next to each other in sequence, each side of the issue can be read back to back. The genius behind this is that direct comparison could be made on the same issue between opposing viewpoints immediately after reading each opinion. Another strength in her essay compilation was choosing adamant souls to argue each side. Also, by giving each essay's author's credentials, the weight of their arguments is increased and the validity of their statements does not have to be assumed but can be taken at face value. Contributors range from John Paul II to Reproductive Rights activists. Lastly, Hurley's ability to bring out the main points of each argument is shown when she restates some of the obviously more significant quotes. Jennifer Hurley's books strengths are evident in not only its structure, such as its organization of putting opposing viewpoints side by side, but also in its statement and sometimes restatement of crucial and important information, such as adequate author background information and the bigger and more significant quotes.

Read either this book or Songs of the Morning Stars; they are one and the same. Amazing insight that tells us what becomes of all the aborted babies. Actually, Songs of the Morning Stars is probably better, because it talks about more than just abortion, such as unintended miscarriage or still birth.

_Confrontations with the Reaper_ is a good introduction to philosophical thinking. It is very well written and full of life. Many classroom discussions will pour from its pages.

The philosophy club at my college is using this text for a discussion along with Camus, Woody Allen, and _The Bagavad Gita_.

The only problem with it is that it is so analytic that it seems to suggest materialism as an idea human state to be in, but that's just my personal problem with the book.

If you're studying the philosophy of death or are in a college philosophy club this one's a great pick.

To an American reader, "right to life" refers to the anti-abortion movement. But this book discusses the phrase in the European context. Here, it covers both abortion and the death penalty. The book is a summary of various decisions made in numerous European courts, along with commentaries on those decisions. Broadly, abortion is shown to be legal in most of Europe. While the death penalty is banned throughout. There is even a brief discussion of eugenics, via-a-vis theraputic or medical abortions.

An ironic comparison to the US occurs, though this does not appear to be made in the text. An American who opposes abortion often also supports the death penalty, and might use "right to life" for the former, without appreciating the direct contradiction with the latter. In Europe, "right to life" is literally interpreted in the banning of executions.

This is a part of the Famous Trials series, which shows some of the more important cases in American jurisprudence. In each of them, the authors show us the background of the case and an introduction to the different people who will play a part in it.

One of the things I liked in past parts of the series was the inset information. The information is not necessary to understand what is going on, but it does give the reader some more in-depth information about part of the narrative. Normally, I find this very enlightening, but here, some of the same words were used in the narrative that was used in the inset. As a result, I kept getting the feeling of deja vu, which took away from the experience.

This book does get into some of the specific points of the case, but the focus is more on what was happening behind the scenes. We read about the lawyers finding Jane Roe as well as read about the unpreparedness of the opposition in court. Very interesting stuff indeed.

Reading this book does give you some insight into context of the case and the procedure. I didn't feel that it went as far into the details as I would have hoped. Nevertheless, this was an interesting read.