This book is written by Jennifer Baumgardner, who started the "I had an abortion" project in 2004. This book is part of that project. It starts with a brief history of abortion, a discussion of the project, an introduction to the "pro-voice" movement, and thoughts on feminism and the pro-life movement.

The most valuable aspect of the first part was the discussion of the pro-voice movement. Pro-voice is the idea that it should be okay to talk about abortion as a bad thing, as something that we should work to decrease the frequency of, without being painted as being against abortion. It should be okay for a woman to have conflicting emotions about her own abortion without being shamed for it. It should be okay to say, "I believe that the fetus is a person, but I still believe in the right to choose". In fact, not only should all of these thoughts be okay to have, discussing them out in the open is the only way to get beyond the caustic dichotomy that defines the abortion debate today. Sadly, since this discussion covered only a chapter, Baumgardner did not go into much depth.

The rest of the book is portraits and stories of women who got abortions. While not as deep as the stories in [b:Choice True Stories of Birth Contraception Infertility Adoption Single Parenthood and Abortion|1351728|Choice True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood, and Abortion|Karen E. Bender|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336956623s/1351728.jpg|1341413] -- that would be difficult when these stories are only a few pages each -- hearing the real stories of women who chose abortion is always an important reminder of how diverse and complicated these decisions are. ( )

Although the main draw here is likely to be the photographers and stories of different women who have had abortions, I was ost interested in Baumgartner's call for a pro-choice politics that allows for all the emotions women might feel regarding their abortions: grief, relief, guitl, anger, freedom, happiness, etc. Also important: the chapter that considers where pro-choice and anti-abortion feminists can meet on common ground. ( )