Carol Sanger: About Abortion

In a 2010 Guardian column, writer Lindy West contemplated the stigma surrounding abortion: “I live in a progressive city, I have a fiercely pro-choice social circle and family, I write confessionally about myself for a living. . . And I know how all [in my social circle] feel about abortion, policy wise. But I don’t know who has had one, and they don’t know about mine.” West’s personal insights reflect a national trend: abortion is such a contentious subject in American society that most women are reticent to discuss their own experience.

Regulatory legislature treats abortion as a mistake, rather than a right. Women are forced to have ultrasounds and undergo “educational briefings” that many opponents view as scare tactics. In her book, About Abortion: Terminating Pregnancy in Twenty-First Century America, legal scholar Carol Sanger tackles these issues and more by making connections between abortion law and cultural opinion. Carol looks forward toward medical progress and the advent of more free speech on the subject of abortion, she hopes that the decision of whether or not to become a mother will be treated with as much respect as any other serious choice in a woman’s life. In the current political climate of the United States, marked by revived determination to close clinics, defund Planned Parenthood, and reverse Roe v. Wade, Sanger’s original and much-needed book is more important than ever.

Please join Carol, along with fellow authors and activists Amelia Bonow, Regina Mahone, and Jessica Valenti, for a panel discussion of the state of abortion rights in America in the Rare Book Room.

Carol Sanger is the author of About Abortion: Terminating Pregnancy in 21 st Century America and a professor at Columbia Law School where she teaches courses on family law, contracts, abortion and motherhood. She has talked about About Abortion on all kinds of programs including WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show, the Oxford University Human Rights Hub, and Sex Gets Real and is regularly interviewed about what is next with the Trump/Pence campaign against women’s reproductive health and rights.

Amelia Bonow is the Founding Director of #ShoutYourAbortion, a movement dedicated to broadening the existing cultural discourse around abortion. In 2017, #ShoutYourAbortion’s website won a Webby Award for activism. Bonow proudly serves on the Board of Directors of the Abortion Care Network and her writing has appeared in The Huffington Post, The New York Daily News, Salon, and The Stranger. 

Regina Mahone is a Queens based writer and managing editor at Rewire, “an online publication providing evidence-based news, analysis, commentary, and investigative reporting on reproductive and sexual health and justice, including the effects of race, class, and poverty on access to care, health outcomes, and reproductive choices.” She has also worked formerly with Philanthropy News Digest.

Jessica Valenti is a blogger, feminist writer and founder of the Feministing blog, and the author of numerous books on women’s issues, including Sex Object: A Memoir, Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape, and The Purity Myth. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Guardian, Ms., and many other reputable periodicals.