Abortion after Roe

As the author correctly points out, Roe v. Wade, the 1973 US Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion, marked the beginning rather than the end of anti-abortion fanaticism. Using extensive archival information as well as personal interviews with abortion providers, historian Schoen (Rutgers) constructs a powerful, often deeply disturbing account of the experiences of clinic personnel and others striving to provide a full range of reproductive options to women in the face of violent opposition. Schoen begins her narrative with the 1974 arrest of African American physician Kenneth Edelin, initially convicted of manslaughter for aborting a 20- or 21-week-old fetus (the judgment was later overturned). She ends with the 2007 Supreme Court ruling Gonzales v. Carhart, which upheld the ban on so-called partial birth abortion (more accurately termed intact D&E) enacted in 2003. Schoen chronicles disagreements among abortion providers concerning how to respond to increasingly violent attacks on clinic personnel as well as their clients, the attempts of some feminist organizations (including NARAL) to distance themselves from the abortionists and the medical details of abortion techniques, the crossover of membership of some of the most fanatic and murderous abortion opponents with white supremacist groups, and so on. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. --Ann Hibner Koblitz, Arizona State University

Schoen (history, Rutgers Univ.) has authored two previous volumes on reproductive rights. Here, she has written a rich and readable account of the struggle for access to abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 struck down state laws prohibiting the procedure. Freestanding abortion clinics appeared quickly, as did power struggles between feminists and (male) physicians and between regulatory agencies and clinic owners. Pitched battles took place over the disposition of fetal remains and the ethics of fetal research. A full-throated antiabortion movement appeared, aided by new technologies such as sonograms, successfully urging state legislatures to pass restrictive laws, and its violent turn resulted in the death of physicians who performed abortions. Opponents recruited women who regretted their actions to argue that abortion harmed women. The U.S. Supreme Court began to uphold state regulations it had previously nullified, forcing the closure of clinics. The result was the reappearance of abortion mills taking advantage of poor, desperate women, while claims that women are entitled to make reproductive decisions fall on deaf ears. Schoen's sympathies lie with abortion providers-doctors, clinic owners, feminist advocates-and in addition to the standard sources, she draws upon almost three dozen interviews. Verdict The largest audience will be academics, but this book may also appeal to a general public.-Cynthia Harrison, George Washington Univ., Washington, DC © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.