Abortion in the Age of Unreason: A Doctor's Account of Caring for Women Before and After Roe v. Wade

by Warren M. Hern

This vivid account by a nationally prominent doctor reports the daily challenges of offering and receiving abortion services in a volatile political and social atmosphere. In stories from the front lines – from protecting patients and staff from protesters’ attacks to the dangers to women of restricted access to abortion services, and the pertinent findings of his remote research in Latin America, Hern’s book is strikingly detailed just as it exposes the needs of women and the U. S. national interest. Dr. Hern – an abortion specialist, researcher, scholar, and highly visible public advocate –shows how abortion saves women’s lives given the many risks that arise during pregnancy – remarkably more than most people realize. He points to political and national solutions to reverse a reawakened crisis that now threatens democracy. Throughout the book, Dr. Hern shows how the current emergency was largely created by political actors who have exploited and distorted the abortion issue to increase and consolidate their power.

A vital component of women’s health care, the crisis over abortion is not new. Yet the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the steady accumulation of power by America’s right wing has put the issue at a level of urgency and national prominence not seen since the days before legalization. Women’s need for safe abortion services will continue as the struggle to secure their rights intensifies. This book is about that struggle during what has evolved, over the last 50 years, to an Age of Unreason.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Politics, Health

380 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 30, 2024

Reviews

[Shira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr. Hern is a hero and deserves infinite stars for his steadfast commitment to abortion and abortion access. I first heard of him when I was working at Whole Woman’s Health in Minneapolis in 2013/2014. Though it was rare, we did get the occasional patient calling who was too far along in the pregnancy (third trimester) for services where they were located at and Dr. Hern’s clinic in Colorado was a safe place for referral.

I found the beginning of this book to be the most interesting when he shared about his schooling and early beginnings into what led him to his ultimate life’s work. The book is not so accessible, however. It’s dense and quite academic. It also seemed to lack editing with lots of repeated information. I appreciated Dr. Hern’s position that we can understand pregnancy as an illness and abortion is a cure unless the pregnant person desires to carry the pregnancy to term and/or have a baby. This book is medical, historical, political, and so much more.

I chose an absolutely terrible month to read this book given all the doom around us in the world and it was hard to get through given the circumstances. If you care about reproductive justice and abortion access consider donating to abortion clinics directly or the National Abortion Fund.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent book. It was a good history of the health issues, the legal battles, the power struggles, and the politics. Dr. Hern is an expert on the topic of abortion, with decades of experience. He presents data regarding how the increase in the legal availability of safe, competently performed abortions has been directly associated with a decline in deaths from clandestine abortions. When abortion is readily available (legal), the maternal mortality from abortion is far less than from childbirth.

Dr. Hern is well published, a frequent invited speaker, and a bravely outspoken advocate who pulls no punches in articulating how he feels about the issues surrounding reproductive freedom. Examples:
-The conflict about abortion is not about facts, reason, or persuasion: it is about power.
-Either the woman, whose body and whose life are most profoundly and permanently affected by a pregnancy, is permitted to make this choice, or someone else, who is unknown to her and has no stake in the pregnancy or life of the woman, is permitted to deny her that choice.
-What brings members of the anti-abortion movement to the belief that they have the right to use the coercive power of the state to force others to behave according to their peculiar moral principles, which supposedly include Christian love and forgiveness?
-People who are against abortion should not have one. And they should leave other people alone.

I had anticipated the book to be more of a chronology, but instead it was arranged a bit more by topic, so there was quite a bit of repetition as the book went back and forth over decades, touching on the same events in multiple chapters. I also expected the book to be entirely narrative, but it also included transcripts (or excerpts thereof) from some of his speeches, publications, op-eds, etc.

[Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard Dr. Hern speak at a conference around 2017-ish and have been very inspired by his work. This book emphasizes his long commitment to providing the very best patient care despite the extremely difficult physical environment he has to practice in with aggressive, hostile protesters right outside his office. He has given so much to the field of healthcare, and has had to live with real sacrifices. It was difficult to read about the affect on his personal life and how he has had to live in fear/anticipation of being assassinated. My favorite part of the book was towards the beginning as he chronicled his early career and time learning from and serving communities in Latin America. The book seems not to have had an editor - there were lots of small typos including punctuation marks in the wrong place as well as certain sections that were repetitions of content presented earlier in the book. However, I think this book still deserves 5 stars because of the content. Dr. Hern is a true hero. He could have had a much easier life but he chose to dedicate himself to providing the best care to women.

[Jehnie]

**Hard to review fairly since it was given to me by the author as part of an ongoing oral history project where I am interviewing him.**

There is so much information about the history of abortion in the United States in the past 50 years and Dr. Hern's involvement in that world - medically and politically.

[Catjubs]

dnf (2nd time). this badly needed an editor