Book Review: Choice: True Stories edited by Karen Bender et al
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Written by Dawn McCaslin
As most of us know, choice and reproductive rights are thorny and deeply personal topics. Scholars hypothesize, organizations advertise, politicians politicize, and stories of the past are used to paint ghastly and horrifying pictures. Whether it's an economic study on teenage pregnancy, studies in faith and finding God's grace, or women of color and their history (or herstory) of oppression, there is a never-ending litany of reasons why reproductive freedom is vital to women, society, and the world-at-large.
Choice: True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood and Abortion, edited by Karen E. Bender and Nina de Gramont, brings together a wide variety of women's stories and their experiences with reproductive choices. Choice unapologetically thrusts the reader into intimate memories of despair, courage, regret, pain, and joy. No stone is left unturned as the women recount their complex struggles to create a future of hope and honesty, whether it's intentional single parenthood, overcoming/succumbing to infertility, choosing to abort, or unfolding the pain of adoption.
Like most books on choice and reproductive freedom, the primary audience of this book will be sympathetic to the complexity of the issues at hand long before diving into the first story. But, unlike so many liberally-slanted books that preach and pass judgment on an already highly polarized subject, Bender and de Gramont allow the voices of these women to simply speak for themselves. Choice means so much more than acquiring an abortion. It is choosing to give birth to a diseased child. It is adopting the child of a heartbroken woman and feeling guilty at the privilege of being white and American. It is finding forgiveness in your heart when hypocrisy rears its ugly head. It is trying over and over again to have a child that your heart and body are so desperate to produce. It is crying in grief at the decisions we are forced to make, at the obstacles we must face when life is at its most unforgiving. Choice, as these stories reveal, is acknowledging that over-generalized theories and the reality of life often lead us to very different conclusions.
Though all of the stories in Choice are deeply heart-wrenching and emotional, each has a unique discovery hidden within the folds of an ordinary life. What I found most shocking was the honesty offered by each storyteller: the pain and confusion following an abortion, the guilt of taking another woman's child as your own, family and children reacting to a frightening situation or decision. These women aren't making political statements or trying to forward a social movement. They are simply trying to survive and to find their way through the complicated and confusing mess of reproductive responsibility.
Bender and de Gramont's superb compilation demonstrates the power of giving a voice to issues that typically live in the shadows of violent political debate. "Choices" proves that reproductive equality comes down to women living their lives to the best of their ability, occasionally stumbling along the way, each facing unique and deeply personal obstacles. There is no good versus evil, honorable versus selfish, virgin versus whore - there are only women.
Dawn McCaslin lives with her three cats in the Washington, D.C. metro area. A transplant from San Diego, she works by day for corporate America and by night as a human rights advocate, volunteer, writer, and fighter.
My main focus in art is color, design and composition. I have a true passion for color as the art subject itself - how colors fit together, how they communicate with each other within the design, how certain colors combined with one another evoke a certain feeling - this is paramount in my work. I am a social worker, artist and poet living in Austin, TX. Read More...
As most of us know, choice and reproductive rights are thorny and deeply personal topics. Scholars hypothesize, organizations advertise, politicians politicize, and stories of the past are used to paint ghastly and horrifying pictures. Whether it's an economic study on teenage pregnancy, studies in faith and finding God's grace, or women of color and their history (or herstory) of oppression, there is a never-ending litany of reasons why reproductive freedom is vital to women, society, and the world-at-large. 
Dawn McCaslin lives with her three cats in the Washington, D.C. metro area. A transplant from San Diego, she works by day for corporate America and by night as a human rights advocate, volunteer, writer, and fighter.
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