The Choices We Made: Twenty-Five Women and Men Speak Out about Abortion

Amid increasingly strident pro-life propaganda, concerned citizens from the other camp--aged 18 to 90, black and white, and including prominent entertainers and writers along with women's rights activists--here bear witness in support of abortion rights. Compiled and annotated by former Planned Parenthood executive Bonavoglia, these candid accounts cite the diverse reasons for aborting--including rape and incest--and the pain, emotional trauma and stigma (and the many deaths) caused by abortions performed illegally between the 1920s and 1973. Actress Polly Bergen was rendered infertile; actress Whoopi Goldberg riskily induced her own abortion with a coat hanger. While Bonavoglia reviews the controversial medical, political and religious aspects of abortion, she convincingly emphasizes the right and responsibility of women to decide this supremely personal matter. Author tour. (Jan.)