Review by Booklist Review
Writer and activist Rankin presents a fervent abortion-rights history from the clinic escort's perspective. Wearing colorful vests and a smile, escorts are tasked with being a calming presence and physical barrier for patients as they walk through the antiabortion protestors' cruel harassment to get inside the clinic. After Roe v. Wade passed, the need for escorts grew as alt-right religious groups such as Operation Rescue and 40 Days sought to circumvent the law and shut down clinics. Rankin depicts a long and taxing war, one largely fought on the ground by volunteers and clinic staff with little help from lackadaisical law enforcement, and half-baked legislation like FACE, which made blocking a clinic a felony but did little to deter "sidewalk counseling." She does not shield the reader from the "antis'" endless haranguing and uses clinic-escort and patient interviews from around the country--including her own experience as an escort--to stress the importance of this purpose-driven work. An ode to her fellow volunteers and a rallying cry for the fundamental rights that now hang so perilously close to abolition.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Abortion rights activist Rankin debuts with a powerful tribute to abortion clinic escorts, who help women access the healthcare they seek despite harassment, threats of violence, and legal barriers. Drawing on her own experiences as a volunteer clinic escort in New Jersey and interviews with activists and clinic staff, Rankin describes how the anti-abortion movement in the U.S. became increasingly hostile in the years after 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide in Roe v. Wade. She documents instances of extremist violence by anti-abortion activists in the 1980s and '90s, including bombings and burnings of abortion clinics and assassinations of abortion providers, and contends that local police often sympathize with anti-abortion protestors and fail to enforce laws meant to prevent the harassment of patients and staff. Rankin also notes that as various states have passed more restrictions on abortion, the number of clinics has plunged (currently, only 10% of U.S. counties have one), leading pro-choice activists to set up networks to help patients who must travel long distances and go through extended waiting periods with transportation, information, and accommodations. Lucidly written and sharply argued, this is a sobering and timely dispatch from the fight to preserve abortion rights. (Apr.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
As our nation wrestles with the fallout of the Supreme Court decision in June 2022 reversing the right to a legal abortion, this title tells of the thousands of brave men and women who literally put their bodies on the line for women to have access to legal, safe abortions. This is a little-known part of the abortion rights story and one that might be lost to time if not recounted in books like this one. Writer and speaker Rankin was one of the volunteers who escorted patients and clinic staff through the throngs of angry anti-abortion protestors. The firsthand stories of playing cat and mouse with organized protestors, trying to guess where they would attack, and beating them to the location in the days without cell phones is riveting. Narrator Kate Udall is an excellent choice for this book. Her tone and cadence perfectly match the passion and solemnity of the topic. VERDICT Recommended for medium and large public libraries and any other libraries where women's issues are strong circulators.--Gretchen Pruett
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A history of the abortion-rights movement told through the lens of abortion clinic escorts. Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, women's reproductive rights have been under attack. Much of the battle has occurred legislatively, particularly through bans at the local level. But as Rankin shows, another danger is the contingent of protestors who attempt to halt abortion by physically blocking access to services and whose ultimate goal is to shut down clinics. "If you live in one of the 10 percent of U.S. counties that still has an abortion clinic," writes the author, who served as an abortion escort for six years in New Jersey, "there is probably a group of picketers outside of it right now." As early as 1988, when a group called Operation Rescue "conducted 182 blockades" of clinics, a group of abortion-rights activists began to create the first "clinic defense networks," which ensured that patients could access important health services. This proved to be the vital beginning of the abortion escort movement. In the years that followed, escorts organized against everything from blockades and clinic closures to the murder of providers. When their local clinics were shut, escorts found new, behind-the-scenes ways to support patients needing abortions, including amassing funding for those who couldn't afford the procedure. Although the introduction of right-wing judges during the Trump administration has rendered abortion's legality more tenuous than ever, escorts remain active and ready to fight. Rankin's passion for women's health blazes on the page, and she is adept at connecting disparate events to create a cohesive historical narrative. At times, the plethora of profiles makes it difficult to keep track of the principals, but this is an important book nonetheless. A stunning, compassionate history of an overlooked element within the abortion-rights movement in the U.S. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
