It’s time for another installment of Voter Literacy, with Traci, where I give you a reading list on a specific topic that is impacting American politics in the lead up to the 2024 election. If there is a topic you want to read about be sure to submit that here.
I am going to be perfectly honest, I had an entire column all written around prisons and mass incarceration for April, but then yesterday (as I am writing this) the Arizona supreme court ruled in favor of a near total abortion ban for their state. I emailed my editor to let her know, and now here we are!
I think this ruling, which makes me sick, is exactly the reason I wanted to focus on issues in politics for this column this year. It is a reminder that we must fully engage with these issues and become students of their complexities if we hope to make change and impact our communities. We can not only see the headlines and move on.
So here you go, a reading list to better understand abortion in the USA. This list is to give you a sense of the debate from multiple angles and perspectives, from lawyers to patients, from people who are pro-choice to those who are anti-abortion. If you are still looking for more reading, I compiled this list in 2022 when Roe v. Wade was overturned and have added a few titles to it since.
After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate by Mary Ziegler
In After Roe we get a clear and direct view of what has happened since Roe was passed. We get to see how activism, politics, and religion played a key role in turning abortion into one of the most contentious subjects of debate in America.
How All Politics Became Reproductive Politics: From Welfare Reform to Foreclosure to Trump by Laura Briggs
The argument in this book is that all politics are tied to reproductive politics, from longer work days to the lack of family leave, but also things with a more tenuous connection like immigration and anti-feminism.
The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having–Or Being Denied–An Abortion by Diana Greene Foster
This book follows women all over the country who received and were turned away from abortion services to see what kind of impact – physical, emotional, financial, professional, mental – being denied an abortion has. It is a massive undertaking of a book and helps the reader understand what is at stake.
Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement Before Roe v. Wade by Daniel K. Williams
A well-balanced book that tells the stories of the people who led the fight against abortion and the ways their activism was led less by their own politics and more by their commitment to a set of values. This book is a good reminder that those who support bans on abortions are not a monolith but rather a coalition of people who approach the issue from many differing (and sometimes conflicting) angles.
Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty by Dorothy Roberts
So often when the conversation about abortion comes up people think of white women who want the right to choose what happens to their bodies. Often Black people and other people of color are excluded from the conversation. In this classic book, Dorthoy Roberts lays out the systemic injustices that have come to dictate the ways Black women are treated with regards to their body and reproductive rights.
No Choice: The Destruction of Roe V. Wade and the Fight to Protect a Fundamental American Right by Becca Andrews
This book marries both the history of Roe v. Wade with the ongoing battle to strip people of their reproductive rights and is told through on-the-ground reporting.
The Family Roe: An American Story by Joshua Prager
Most folks are familiar with “Jane Roe” but less people know about Norma McCorvey, who is the woman behind the pseudonym. Her unwanted pregnancy in 1969 led to the passing of Roe v. Wade and all that has come since. The Family Roe expands out from McCorvey’s life to show that the contours of the abortion debate are a reflection of America itself.
Reproductive Justice: The Politics of Health Care for Native American Women by Barbara Gurr
This book takes a sociologist’s view of reproductive healthcare for Native Americans on the Pine Ridge Reservation, home of the Oglala Lakota Nation in South Dakota. Gurr shows readers the challenges and obstacles Native people face when trying to obtain birth control, abortions, and even reporting sexual assaults, and also the ways this community has worked to expand reproductive healthcare.
The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe V. Wade by Ann Fessler
This is a book that focuses on the stories of women who surrendered their children to adoption between 1945 and 1973, before abortion became legal. The book is told from the interviews Fessler conducted and mixed with sociological analysis.
Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America by Shefali Luthra
This book isn’t out yet, (May 2024) but looks at what it is like now trying to access reproductive care since Roe was overturned. I am really curious to read this book and compare what has played out in the last few years to many of the predictions that can be found in other books on this list.
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