| How The Pro-choice Movement Saved America |  | Author: Cristina Page
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy New: $4.78
You Save: $19.22 (80%)
New (6) Used (6) from $4.29
Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 1389837
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.7 x 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.460973
ASIN: B000VYUZ0K
Publication Date: January 31, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A pithy polemic bolstered by solid research, intellectual heft, and firsthand reporting, this is a book poised to change the debate over reproductive rights in this country wholesale. As activist and writer Cristina Page shows, the gains made by birth-control advocates (historically) and pro-choice organizations (currently) have formed the bedrock of freedoms few Americans would choose to live without. Now, not only is the future of legal abortion far from guaranteed, in many parts of the country ready access to many forms of contraception is in jeopardy as well. And that development, Page argues, should have everyone, regardless of moral or political persuasion, deeply concerned. For these basic freedoms are not just for the freewheeling gals of "Sex and the City," but are central to the lives of working mothers and fathers from Phoenix to Duluth, churchgoers and nonbelievers alike. Page crystallizes the thoughts and attitudes of a generation of women and men whose voices are seldom heard in the political arena. How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America is the first book to address the positive transformation our society has undergone because of our ability to plan when and if to have children. It also exposes the anti-choice movement's far-reaching-and dangerous-agenda. Fresh, bold, and stocked with counterintuitive arguments, this is a book bound to form the basis for heated conversations nationwide.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 Interesting Book February 8, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Cristina Page's thesis is simple: with the majority of the anti-abortion movement, abortion, or prevention thereof, is not the core issue. Rather, the core issue is the ideology that intercourse cannot take place outside marriage, and even then, birth control is not acceptable. To support this thesis, Page cites examples, of pro-life organizations fighting measures in states that would make health care plans pay for contraceptive services, as well as any kind of measure that would increase daycare funding. Page also includes some rather shocking examples of pharmacists who refused to fill prescription orders for contraception (including that of one rape victim). Other issues discussed include the failure of the nationwide abstinence-only programs, and the FDA's refusal to grant over-the-counter status to the "morning after pill."
One story the author relates is particularly disturbing. The Population Research Institute, an extremely small branch (about 6 members) of the lobby Human Life International, successfully led a campaign to de-fund UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund). They were working in China to try to stop China's forced abortion policy by encouraging voluntary family planning in a certain number of counties. By all accounts, it was going quite successfully, and China was going to expand the number of counties participating in the program. The PRI, however, erroneously claimed that UNFPA was collaborating with China's forced abortion policy. They denied this, and pointed that there was no evidence to back up the allegation. Bush, however, listened to them and withdrew the US funding for the agency. In response, European nations increased their funding of UNFPA to compensate for the US withdrawal (worth about $25 million). The result: ideology triumphed, and we lost even more credibility among the world.
Page does a good job in showing how the pro-life movement is about more than the prevention of abortion, and how countries with access to contraception and comprehensive sex-ed are the ones that have the lowest abortion rates. She only spends a little time on how access to contraception and the entry of women into the workforce has improved the country socially; given the title of the book, I wish she had spent a little more time on the issue. Further, it would have been a good idea to give at least a brief philosophical defense of the pro-choice position, or to show the inconsistencies of the pro-life position beyond the utilitarian consequences thereof. Overall, however, this is an interesting and important little book that will help citizens inform themselves about crucial issues.
 Not Impressive December 14, 2007
5 out of 17 found this review helpful
The book was a waste of both Page's and my time.
She essentially cherry picked some quotes to support her absurd hypothesis that pro-lifers just want to punish people who have sex.
Absurd, yes. Are there some people like that? No doubt. If you look hard enough you'll find a communist who thinks he is a can of tomato paste. But that isn't representative of the communist argument, and punishing people who have sex isn't representative of the pro-life argument.
The real argument is a very sincere and serious one. It's about the very important right to privacy, and the very important right to life. It's not the kind of debate that dishonest cherry-picking writers should be meddling in.
 Reproductive Rights: Pro- Family or Anti- Family? November 13, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
How the Pro Choice Movement Saved America is a celebratory book of sorts, written by a woman who has been fighting for reproductive and family planning rights for much of her adult life. Cristina Page has been a leader in several different pro- choice organizations and she is a fervent believer not only in the importance of keeping abortion legal, but also in the many benefits that society has reaped since abortion was legalized in 1973.
Abortion is a passionate issue that divides many Americans. It's a delicate issue and there are so many "ifs", "ands", and "buts" that it is often difficult to take a divisive stand. Cristina Page, however, has taken a stand and hers isn't as radical as the book's title suggests. She feels that abortion, while certainly not a desirable procedure and something everyone should avoid, has had some positive benefits to society. Once abortion and contraception were legalized, women were empowered to take control of their lives. It has led to greater enrollment in college, greater financial security for the children, and a smaller child- bearing burden to bear. The fact that family planning is now a choice has led to a stronger family, for these and other reasons.
Cristina Page didn't write this book mainly as a defense of the pro- choice movement. What Page really intended with this book is to expose the more extreme elements in the pro- life movement and how they will resort to anything to validate their position. While pro- choice advocates rely on science and reason to support their views, pro- life adherents will use any tactic necessary to win support for their cause. This includes distorting the facts and manipulating data, presenting false and misleading information, and commissioning phony studies or surveys that are biased in favor of the pro- life side.
I can agree with much of what Page says in this book. One doesn't have to look very far or very hard to see the smokescreen tactics of pro- life organizations. However, before we begin demonizing pro- life political groups for misleading the public in their efforts to make abortion a crime, we also have to consider the fact that abortion, at present, is legal. Could it be that the pro- life organizations feel they have to stretch the truth a little bit if they have any hope of overturning a Supreme Court decision? If Roe vs. Wade is overturned and abortion is severely restricted or outlawed, isn't there a good chance the pro- choice organizations would resort to precisely the same tactics?
As for the writing and presentation of this book, it is okay at best. I like the fact that Page devoted so much time to gathering official research data because it helps persuade the reader. But the added notes and sources comprise about thirty percent of the book's pages. Take them away, and you have a book with only 168 pages: Not nearly enough to give a topic like this the justice it deserved. The presentation isn't the best either. It is basically a solid wall of words and statistics. I would have liked it better if it included some tables and/or graphic illustrations to drive its points home.
With such limited space, this book doesn't dive deeply enough into the abortion issue the way I would prefer. This fact is most glaring in the book's final chapter, which discusses what the United States would be like if Roe vs. Wade was overturned. It was a good idea to include some frank discussion on this important concern, but there are so many valid points that could have been made and weren't, I got frustrated reading it. For example, there is almost no discussion at all of the black market in abortions that would most certainly rise out of nowhere if Roe vs. Wade was removed from the legal code. And even more frightening is the government crackdown on illegal abortion that would most certainly follow. It would mean the end of most of our privacy rights as we know them today, yet this issue is barely touched in the book's closing chapter.
Overall, "How the Pro- Choice Movement Saved America" is a good book, but not quite the blockbusting piece of political non- fiction I was hoping for. It has many important and perfectly valid points to make and it backs itself with plenty of statistics and sources. It's good and worth a read, but it is really too short to make its way onto a list of the most important books on reproductive rights.
 Well written, informative and factual literary piece July 2, 2007
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
First of all, I want to say that this book opened my eyes even more to the horrors that the radical pro-life movement imposes to human and reproductive rights of women around the world. This piece will make any pro-choice feminist to become furious like me as I have devoted my life to do my best to defend the rights of women despite my parents' disapproval. This book discuss every issue with compelling arguments backed by credible scientific FACTS and reading this book is a must. It should be read by any american pro-choice or pro-life because I believe that in the end, the horrible consequences of pro-life movement in america will affect the vast majority of the citizens pro-choice or not. To Miss Christina Page, I applaud you for the a job well done. In my eyes, you are a real modern hero fighting for justice and women's rights.
 Saved America? April 27, 2007
9 out of 25 found this review helpful
Though well written and interesting I did not enjoy this book. It saddens me that this country constantly attacks pro-lifers. No, being pro-life isn't about "saving pweshus baybeez", it's about how much we honor someones (anyones) right to live. Killing the child in your womb is the same as killing the child you have. Worse because the one in your womb cannot defend itself. Many women complain that they can't afford another child and wouldn't be able to give it the life they would want to. However there are so many childless couples who are very willing to adopt so why abort when you can give your child a better life? Did you know that only 1% of abortions are cause of rape or incest? So why are there 1.6 million abortions per year in the U.S. alone? One of the leading causes is because the mother simply does not want more children. Again they can give the child up for adoption since they don't want it. Last but not least the parts concerning a pro-life "hidden agenda" and criminal rates dropping are (with all respect) simply ridiculous. There is no such thing as a "hidden agenda" and I think that criminal rates dropping is (if not stupid) possible but there might have also been future presidents, activists, missionaries and leaders that have been aborted too.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
