How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America

"I obviously wanted to pick a book that was about the work I do now, and I just think Cristina Page did a great job in this book. It’s a very accessible book and so I’d like to put it in for folks who think this may not be the topic that they know a whole lot about. I think Cristina really lays out the case that the far right movement in this country, in its fight against abortion rights, is actually against everything that would reduce the need for abortion in America in the first place. She does a great job of chronicling the fight against birth control, the opposition to sex education, the whole campaign against the morning-after pill, and on and on. And, in a very readable way, she outlines this whole anti-science hysteria that unfortunately has now become almost part of urban legend – the allegations that are made on the far right about the perils and the dangers of basic birth control. “She really lays out the case that the far right movement in this country, in its fight against abortion rights, is actually against everything that would reduce the need for abortion in America in the first place” Of course, since she wrote this book, which isn’t even that old, we’ve seen the movement in this country go even further. We see most recently the whole effort of Congress to de-fund Planned Parenthood – it’s for family planning. This is really an effort to undermine access not only to legal abortion in America but even legal birth control. She does a good job as well in talking about the whole move by pharmacists to refuse to fill birth-control prescriptions or refuse to fill emergency contraception. So, again, I think of the cynicism of this movement claiming to be about abortion but being about something much, much more. I also love how she ends it, which is the question: Will the American people stand up for a few energised crusaders hell-bent on imposing their views on how we all ought to live? That is the fundamental question and I think the pro-choice movement or any of the movements for women’s health play a vital role in the progressive community. So I encourage folks to read it. I’m probably putting my own interpretation on these issues and reading that into this, but to me women don’t get up every morning thinking about their individual freedom. But they do get up every morning thinking about access to healthcare, and for about 30 years of their life they probably want to make sure they don’t get pregnant if they don’t want to. It’s such a fundamental – not even just a rights issue – it’s a health issue, it’s part of women’s lives. Look, I think Cristina’s point is that the folks that are fighting against Planned Parenthood or folks who are fighting against birth control, they basically don’t believe that people should be having sex except to procreate. That’s a fundamental struggle. If you don’t believe that people are sexual beings and that they should have the ability to live their lives as sexual beings then it’s hard to argue with them about all the issues around birth control. So I think she gets into that a little bit. I think what she really does is underscore the irony of the fact that you can’t want to end or reduce the number of abortions in America and also do everything you can to keep women and young people from having the information and healthcare they need to prevent unintended pregnancy. Right now, that’s where the anti-choice movement is living."