The Abortion Myth: Feminism, Morality, and the Hard Choices Women Make - Hardcover

"The women I interviewed, no matter what side of the abortion fence they were on," writes Leslie Cannold in The Abortion Myth, "were clear that the fetus is alive, and abortion kills it. None of them, however, believed these facts proved that abortion was wrong." Cannold criticizes pro-choice feminists for denying the fetus in an effort to bring the woman back into focus as the locus of pregnancy and the agent of decision-making. In her view, women are moral persons for whom the decision to abort derives less from a sense of rights or privacy and more from a broader evaluation of what the "right" thing to do is. This evaluation speaks to their attitudes towards pregnancy and motherhood, and the real difference between pro- and anti-choice women is their level of trust that other women will "act morally."

Cannold builds on the work of such scholars as Kristin Luker, Faye Ginsburg, and Carol Gilligan, and takes on the controversial work of her own mentor, Peter Singer, on how ectogenesis might affect the abortion decision. Methodologically, The Abortion Myth suffers from some of the same flaws as Gilligan's In a Different Voice--a small, self-selected sample--and Cannold's normative stance is clear throughout. She is, after all, a graduate student and fellow in bioethics. The author is American but does all her work in Australia, and it is certainly fruitful to hear other voices and perspectives coming from a non-U.S. context. The Abortion Myth has been revised and updated for an American audience. Where the original Australian edition was produced as a trade book, this new version, published by a university press consortium, reflects Cannold's desire to engage the enormous academic and political debate that surrounds abortion, especially in the United States. The result is an interesting and thought-provoking read for the sophisticated lay reader. --J.R.

5 1/2 x 8 1/2 trim. LC 99-34374