Abortion
a personal story, a political choice
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
From the author of I Hate Men, a personal and political reflection on abortion rights.
Discussion about abortion and associated rights are often limited to either ‘anti-abortion’ or ‘pro-choice’, the latter of which focuses on the importance of having the right to choose, rather than on what that right means for real people.
In this timely essay, Pauline Harmange provides an intimate, detailed account of her abortion. Reminiscent of Annie Ernaux’s Happening, Abortion is nuanced, complex, honest, and precise. Harmange gives voice to the emotions, reflections, and contradictions that someone could experience when they choose to terminate a pregnancy.
At a time in which women’s reproductive rights are being called into question around the world, Abortion is a clarion call, a powerful personal testimony, and a resolutely political vision: to restore power to our experiences, all our experiences, by sharing them, and to transform society for the better.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this nuanced account, Harmange (I Hate Men) reflects on her decision to have an abortion. She recounts how in 2019, she became pregnant despite using birth control and aborted the embryo because though she wanted to one day be a mother, her circumstances were "less-than-ideal" as a recent college graduate still struggling to launch a career. "There was no doubt and no regret," she reports, but admits she had complicated emotions, waiting over a year to tell her mother out of shame and grieving "who I'd thought I was." She uses her story as a launching pad to explore the politics of abortion and laments that taboo inhibits frank discussion of the "feelings of ambiguity, negativity, sadness, and insecurity" that can accompany the procedure. Examining the role of men, she posits that their stunted emotional "vocabulary" regarding abortion is exacerbated by the "fact that women still don't have the right to talk about it freely." Harmange excels at illuminating intersections between the personal and the political, and her willingness to probe her own pain makes for powerful reading. Timely and affecting, this packs a punch.
