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Not An Easy Choice: A Feminist Re-Examines Abortion
McDonnell, Kathleen
Publisher: The Women's Press, CanadaYear Published: 1986 Resource Type: Book Cx Number: CX3138 McDonnell describes the often conflicting needs and emotions experienced prior to and after abortion. Abstract: NOT AN EASY CHOICE describes the often conflicting needs and emotions experienced before and after abortion. The author examines the ethical debates surrounding the issue, examines the constituency of the anti-abortion movement and evaluates the arguments regarding men's right in abortion decisions. Kathleen McDonnell places these issues within the context of rapidly changing technology and the much broader issue of reproductive rights. She takes the right of choice as given, but says the grief and sense of loss of a woman who has an abortion is too often overlooked. McDonnell's book tackles many questions that pro-choice feminists have not asked themselves. She goes beyond one dimensional reasoning that has you either pro-woman or pro-fetus. She examines the ethics of abortion-women experience, post abortion grief, and the moral aspects of abortion, the issue of self versus other, and the tradition that women must put the needs of others first. She raises questions about artificial reproduction and how the technological advances have made the issue increasingly complex. She makes a case for women's' control over all aspects of our bodies in birth, abortion and contraception. She suggests having women-run health centres where women can make informed decisions in a supportive atmosphere. Table of Contents 1. Abortion: Why a 'Re-examination'? 2. Women's Experience of Abortion 3. Morality and Abortion 4. Men and Abortion 5. 'Choice': Pure and Simple? 6. The Anti-abortion Movement 7. Controlling Reproduction 8. Reclaiming Abortion Notes Bibliography Index Subject Headings |