Aborted woman: 1. one of the class of women whose lives have been permanently altered by the experience of abortion; 2. a woman who experiences self-alienation because of her ambivalence over terminating an unwanted pregnancy; 3. a woman who, after an abortion, feels aborted herself physically, psychologicall, socially and spiritually.

"Forty years after the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, "abortion" is still a word that is said with outright hostility or vague discomfort by many, this despite the fact that one in three American women will have terminated at least one pregnancy by the time they reach menopause. Even those who support a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy often qualify their support by saying abortion is a "bad thing," an "agonizing decision," thereby placing the medical procedure on a pedestal so remote and radioactive that it takes it out of the world of the everyday, turning an act that is often necessary, and often welcomed, into something shameful and secretive. Meanwhile with each passing day the rights upheld by the Supreme Court are being systematically eroded by state laws designed to end abortion outright. In this controversial and necessary book, Katha Pollitt reframes abortion as a common part of a woman's reproductive life, one that should be accepted as a moral right with positive soci

Forty years after the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, "abortion" is still a word that is said with outright hostility by many, despite the fact that one in three American women will have terminated at least one pregnancy by menopause. Even those who support a woman's right to an abortion often qualify their support by saying abortion is a "bad thing," an "agonizing decision," making the medical procedure so remote and radioactive that it takes it out of the world of the everyday, turning an act that is normal and necessary into something shameful and secretive. Meanwhile, with each passing day, the rights upheld by the Supreme Court are being systematically eroded by state laws designed to end abortion outright. Katha Pollitt reframes abortion as a common part of a woman's reproductive life, one that should be accepted as a moral right with positive social implications. In Pro, Pollitt takes on the personhood argument, reaffirms the priority of a woman's life and health, and discusses why

Abortion and capital punishment are bitterly contested issues that provoke passionate yet contradictory attitudes about life and death. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted with a diverse group of people who shared their views on religion, race, gender, and politics, Kimberly J. Cook probes the cultural forces underlying the apparent paradox of opposition to abortion and support for the death penalty. The author frames her examination within the context of the legal, political, and theoretical histories of abortion and capital punishment. Combining excerpts from her interviews with statistical analysis, she skillfully explores the full range of stances on these divisive social issues: pro-choice, anti-death penalty; pro-choice, pro-death penalty; pro-life, anti-death penalty; and pro-life, pro-death penalty. Cook finds that punitiveness, the desire to punish those who are perceived to violate a code of ethical behavior, is a common thread that links and explains the inconsistencies

Presents the stories of women who had illegal abortions from 1930 to 1960, along with comments of doctors and others who helped them deal with later trauma.