You or Someone You Love
Reflections from an Abortion Doula
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Named an ALA 2024 Feminist Rise Book Project Winner * Glamour Best Nonfiction Book of 2023 * theSkimm Favorite Book of Summer 2023 * NPR Science Friday Best Science Book of Summer 2023
An eye-opening, transformative, and actionable journey through radical and compassionate community abortion care and support work: what it looks like, how each and every one of us can practice and incorporate it into our daily lives, and what we can imagine and build together in a post-Roe v. Wade United States.
Abortion touches all of our lives. While statistically nearly everyone knows someone who will receive an abortion in their lifetime, limiting narratives flatten our understanding and assumptions around abortion, while stigma and criminalization stifle discussion. What we lack are the language and tools to provide care and support to all of the members of our communities who receive abortions, before, during, and after them.
Now, Hannah Matthews—abortion care worker, doula, journalist and essayist, and reproductive rights advocate—breathes depth and nuance into the oversimplified narratives surrounding abortion, presenting an accessible guide to the emotional and physical realities of providing and supporting abortion care for our own communities. Featuring stories of real abortion experiences, including Matthews’s own, You or Someone You Love offers a glimpse into the stunningly diverse landscape of abortion care across gender, race, and class lines, while illustrating how we can better support and protect the people who seek abortion in a country that increasingly promotes secrecy and shame.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Abortion doula Matthews normalizes abortion experiences in her compassionate, affirming debut. She opens by describing her own abortion, including her decision process leading up to it, the medical care she received, and the complex knot of emotions she experienced (of the procedure itself, with her partner and clinic colleagues beside her: "I feel so many frightening, ugly, sharp-edged, hollow things, in these last moments of my pregnancy. But I don't feel alone"). The author assesses abortion from various perspectives, with mixed results: a strong section positions abortion as a form of "reproductive justice" and highlights the need for readily available "tools of reproductive power," such as sex education and birth control; elsewhere, a discussion of abortion and sex suggests that "unintended pregnancy is not a weakness or a moral failing" but only superficially asks readers to consider how their sex lives might change if pregnancy choices were met with acceptance. Matthews is at her best when assessing ways to support those considering or recovering from an abortion (food, flowers, or a letter, "even if you're afraid of being cheesy") and when she leans into the messy, sometimes-contradictory emotions that often get left out of the abortion discussion. Readers looking to support loved ones or offer themselves grace will find Matthews a wise guide.
