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One Kind Word: Women Share Their Abortion Stories
One Kind Word: Women Share Their Abortion Stories is a groundbreaking collection that helps to end the silence surrounding abortion experiences and to combat the feelings of fear, shame, stigma, and isolation that many women face.
By featuring over thirty women’s personal experiences and portraits, One Kind Word shifts the focus of the abortion debate towards creating a more open, honest, and compassionate dialogue about reproductive freedom in Canada.
The stories and portraits in One Kind Word remind us that women who have had abortions come from all backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures, and ages. Women who have had abortions are our mothers, sisters, grandmothers, lovers, friends, neighbours, doctors, teachers, and politicians.
One Kind Word features forewords by prominent feminist and pro-choice activist Judy Rebick, as well as Jillian Bardsley of Medical Students for Choice.
By featuring over thirty women’s personal experiences and portraits, One Kind Word shifts the focus of the abortion debate towards creating a more open, honest, and compassionate dialogue about reproductive freedom in Canada.
The stories and portraits in One Kind Word remind us that women who have had abortions come from all backgrounds, ethnicities, cultures, and ages. Women who have had abortions are our mothers, sisters, grandmothers, lovers, friends, neighbours, doctors, teachers, and politicians.
One Kind Word features forewords by prominent feminist and pro-choice activist Judy Rebick, as well as Jillian Bardsley of Medical Students for Choice.
- GenresFeminismNonfiction
84 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2014
1 person is currently reading
134 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 23, 2014
I loved reading this book and am so grateful to all the women who participated. I am going to have this important work available to my patients when I get my own office. reading this book was empowering. it has added to my motivation to become an abortion provider. it was fantastic how the book was written in the different languages of the women writing and not translated to english. despite best efforts to be inclusove I felt like the book could/should of had more diversity in ethnicity and social situations of the participants. that's for the next book! I hope this project continues.
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July 27, 2015http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2014/1...
Review by Michelle Reid
One Kind Word: Women Share Their Abortion Stories is exactly what the subtitle suggests: a selection of portraits and accounts of women who have had abortions in Canada, collected by photographer Kathryn Palmateer and editor Martha Solomon.
The title comes from Lori, the last woman of the collection, who says of her abortion, "The support I would have appreciated: one kind word from anyone."
Lori's wish is echoed through many of the experiences shared by many of the women in this collection who perceive a lack of kindness and respect extended to women who seek an abortion in Canada.
One woman, Sheila, recounts a doctor asking if she wanted an abortion because she didn't love her boyfriend; another, Tabatha, recalls being lectured by a nurse about her "reckless behaviour" in front of other patients.
Their stories come from different eras. Some before the 1988 Morgentaler decision, when women seeking abortions had to make their case to a panel of physicians ("Therapeutic Abortion Committees"). Some when provinces allowed abortion but required parental consent if the woman was a minor. Some today when abortion should be widely available.
These stories convey varied emotions: relief, fear, shame, anxiety, elation. But none of the women included regret their choice.
They differ widely in age, ethnicity, circumstance, but they are united in a refusal to be silenced or shamed for their choice. They are willing to put their names and faces to their experiences. This shouldn't be a bold choice in a country that struck down abortion restrictions more than a quarter-century ago, a country in which one in three women will have an abortion by age 50 -- but it is.
Read more here: http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2014/1...
Review by Michelle Reid
One Kind Word: Women Share Their Abortion Stories is exactly what the subtitle suggests: a selection of portraits and accounts of women who have had abortions in Canada, collected by photographer Kathryn Palmateer and editor Martha Solomon.
The title comes from Lori, the last woman of the collection, who says of her abortion, "The support I would have appreciated: one kind word from anyone."
Lori's wish is echoed through many of the experiences shared by many of the women in this collection who perceive a lack of kindness and respect extended to women who seek an abortion in Canada.
One woman, Sheila, recounts a doctor asking if she wanted an abortion because she didn't love her boyfriend; another, Tabatha, recalls being lectured by a nurse about her "reckless behaviour" in front of other patients.
Their stories come from different eras. Some before the 1988 Morgentaler decision, when women seeking abortions had to make their case to a panel of physicians ("Therapeutic Abortion Committees"). Some when provinces allowed abortion but required parental consent if the woman was a minor. Some today when abortion should be widely available.
These stories convey varied emotions: relief, fear, shame, anxiety, elation. But none of the women included regret their choice.
They differ widely in age, ethnicity, circumstance, but they are united in a refusal to be silenced or shamed for their choice. They are willing to put their names and faces to their experiences. This shouldn't be a bold choice in a country that struck down abortion restrictions more than a quarter-century ago, a country in which one in three women will have an abortion by age 50 -- but it is.
Read more here: http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2014/1...
October 16, 2014
This book is one that was long overdue, but worth the wait! It's important for everyone to see how important access to abortion is for all kinds of women (and everyone else with female reproductive organs). This book allows women to share their abortion stories in as much or as little detail as they would like and positions the stories next to photographs of the person. It is wonderful to see stories in various languages (English, Spanish, French), although I wished at the time that the editors had chosen to have the stories translated. I could understand the French story, but had to use Google translate in order to get the gist of the Spanish story. I understand the importance of allowing people to tell their stories in their own words though. I wish this book could be recommended reading for Canadians because it points out how complicated (or not) the decision to have an abortion can be and how people react emotionally in a number of different ways.
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February 17, 2015Following Amazon's purchase of GoodReads, I no longer post my reviews here.
If you would like to read my thoughts on this book, you can view them in the following places:
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If you read/liked/clicked through to see this review here on GR, many thanks.
If you would like to read my thoughts on this book, you can view them in the following places:
BuriedInPrint
LeafMarks
BookLikes
LibraryThing
Posting these links does not constitute permission to duplicate these thoughts anywhere, including corporate-owned sites.
If you read/liked/clicked through to see this review here on GR, many thanks.
August 19, 2016
Insightful about the hard-won battle for abortion rights in Canada, and those battles still being fought, including access of care in remote or rural communities. One woman (Jeanette) described her pregnancy being the result of rape, then later realized that she was allowing the anti-choice perspective frame the language around her experience.
Resources:
- National Abortion Federation (NAF) Canada
- Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC)
Resources:
- National Abortion Federation (NAF) Canada
- Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC)
October 15, 2014
GoodReads Firstreads Giveaway win!:)
articulate, diverse and soul-touching
articulate, diverse and soul-touching
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews