Whose Life?: A Balanced, Comprehensive View of Abortion from Its Historical Context to the Current Debate

Its subtitle notwithstanding, this lively, concise survey of the abortion debate in America is written from a pro-choice standpoint. Interweaving legal cases, political sparring and women's personal stories, Whitney (coauthor of Rude Awakening ) begins with Bush's alleged ``back room pact'' with the extreme religious right during the presidential campaign, then jumps around geographically, from Idaho to Guam, reporting on current battles in courts, classrooms and clinics. There is coverage of parental notification laws, the debate over whether an embryo has personhood, the French RU486 abortion pill, the global trend toward liberalization of abortion laws and pro-choice New York governor Mario Cuomo's feud with ``Father Church, a classic patriarchy.'' Appendixes include a Supreme Court ``abortion scoreboard'' and a state-by-state table of abortion regulations, making this a valuable sourcebook. (July)