Fired Up about Reproductive Rights

Fired Up about

by Jane Kirby

What is at stake in the fight for safe, legal, and accessible abortion services? And who benefits from our dark legacy of coercive sterilization, eugenics, and population control?

Reproductive rights are rights that everyone should be fired up about!

Decades after abortion was legalized and decriminalized in Canada, the US, and the UK, why are we still fighting for reproductive rights?

Shattering the myth that the battle for reproductive rights has already been won, Fired Up about Reproductive Rights shows us the many ways our reproductive lives remain subject to state control. From the fight for safe, legal, and accessible abortion services to the fight against coercive sterilization, eugenics, and population control, threats to our reproductive control remain alive and well in our communities. Engaging with the reproductive justice framework advanced by women of colour, the book presents the fight for reproductive rights as contingent with other social justice issues, and forces us to grapple with the weaknesses of the feminist and reproductive rights movement as it exists. Accessible and engaging, this book gives readers the tools to understand–and fight against–contemporary threats to our reproductive rights.

Part of the Fired Up series.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, History, Womens, Politics, Health

140 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 2017

Reviews

[Elizabeth (Plant Based Bride) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fired Up About Reproductive Rights is a refreshingly straightforward and staunchly pro-choice primer for young people on the history and present of reproductive rights from a Canadian perspective and should certainly be a must-read for teens of any gender as part of the school curriculum!

While Kirby includes discussion on the intersectionality between racism and reproductive freedoms (with extra focus on the forced sterilization of indigenous children in residential schools), as well as brief mentions of how the state of our reproductive rights legislation impacts nonbinary, trans, and gender non conforming people, I would have loved a bit more depth to the conversation. As a beginner's guide or introduction to the subject, it excels. Still, there is much more diversity of experience to be explored that would certainly benefit teenagers' understanding and empathy in this area.

I think this book would be better consumed in physical form rather than audio, as the narration was, at times, confusing. Still, even as a 28-year-old woman who is not the target demographic, I managed to walk away with some new information that surprised and saddened me.

I would definitely recommend this book to parents of tweens and teens who are beginning to become aware of the politicization of the bodies of those with uteruses as a way to open the door for conversation!

Content Warnings: sexism and misogyny, restriction of bodily autonomy, forced sterilization, residential schools

Thank you to Netgalley and ECW Press Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

VIDEO REVIEW: https://youtu.be/5xAERZtL_s8

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[Sheena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but powerful. Love the connection of reproductive rights to heteropatriarchy, colonialism, eugenics, and other systems of oppression.

[Carolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent primer to reproductive justice. It would be ideal for mature middle schoolers, and high school students. It would also be a perfect book for anyone who is unfamiliar with reproductive rights and wants to learn. It does a fantastic job discussing the intersections of gender, race, class, and sexuality with reproductive justice.

Jane Kirby mainly focuses on abortion access and forced sterilization. The information in this book is both entry level and nuanced. I am honestly impressed, very glad to have found it. I will be recommending it to everyone.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This misrepresents the motives of pro-lifers. The author is so entrenched in her pro-abortion position that she cannot comprehend that a decent person could disagree with her on the value of fetal life- in her estimation, pro-lifers must be monsters who hate women.

Still, it was refreshing to see a pro-choicer frame the abortion issue as one of "reproductive justice"- with a pro-choice view that also seeks to empower women to have babies. Most of the time, the pro-choice movement is strictly "pro-abortion" - they ignore the serious social and often racial problems which make it hard for a person who wants a baby to carry to term. It's nice to see that the pro-choice side is finally paying attention to the fact that "pro-choice" actually works both ways- a person should be allowed to have a baby, too.

However, it is ironic that the author demonizes crisis pregnancy centers, and misrepresents the work they do. They are, after all, actively engaged in helping pregnant women who want babies to have them. CPCs directly fight the social, financial, and other problems preventing women from choosing life- whether by giving baby items, financial help, providing trips to doctors, and sometimes even finding free or low cost medical care for pregnant women. And they have been doing this for over 40 years- long before any pro-choicer ever showed the slightest concern for women who wanted babies but could not afford to have them.

It's too bad that the author's ideology blinds her so much. She seems to have openly embraced a caricature of the pro-life movement, and I wonder if she has ever met a pro-life person or attended a pro-life gathering. She indulges in nothing but stereotypes and even though she did a great deal of research on some things, she obviously did zero research on crisis pregnancy centers and the pro-life movement, instead blindly accepting the popular pro-abortion narrative without examining it.

[Caroline Fosse · Rating 4 out of 5]

«Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to nine months, after that they don’t want to know about you, they don’t want to hear from you, no nothing. No neonatal care, no daycare, no head start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing. If you’re pre-born, you’re fine. If you’re pre-school, you’re fucked.»

I think this is such an important read, it talks about why it’s so important to fight for womens rights to have an abortion, and how it’s affecting everyone. It talkes about racism, disability, culture and lack of information. I know a lot of people believe the fight is over, that we already have equality so why continue to talk about it. I know a lot of people complain about «sensitive snowflake feminists who won’t shut up» and try to guilt-trip women into believing that they’re overreacting. The truth is, every day people try to take away a womans rights to make decisions. People in power try to «protect unborn babies» by fighting against safe abortions, but they also refuse to give these women the help needed to raise a child.

[Meg Gramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5!

Thanks to Jane Kirby & NetGalley for this pre-release audiobook version! I've had this on my TBR forever and always love books read by the author.

Fired Up about Reproductive Rights is quick but thorough. With these kinds of books, I am hesitant to give anything above 2 stars without proper references. That was not a problem with this book!

This book is obviously about firey passion for reproductive rights, which we love, but it is also a historical account of the role religion, eugenics, and fear-mongering have played in the threat to abortion. For those who are interested in being educated on this subject, or are already passionate about reproductive rights and looking to feel outraged, this book is for you.

[David Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome book that really breaks down a lot of tough subject matter into simple to understand language. I think it's suitable for teens but I'm an adult in my late 30's and I learned a lot. The author is passionate about the subject but doesn't hit you over the head with polemic. It's well-reasoned commentary, and a call to action that is relatable and effective!

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed listening to this non-fiction audiobook narrated by the author. In just 6 relatively short chapters, Kirby shares a wealth of information about the barriers to reproductive rights for women and trans men around the world. Kirby is clearly extremely knowledgeable about this topic, and her text is supported with extensive research, yet she is able to explain things in a very succinct and easy to understand way. The information she shares is both statistical and qualitative, describing experiences using background information and supporting details. For example, Kirby gives statistics about the lack of abortion clinics on Prince Edward Island, Canada, but also gives information about the political context of the province, the geography of the location of abortion clinics and the legal and financial barriers as well as the inconvenience of both time and travel imposed on Islanders looking to receive an abortion in a neighbouring province.

As a Canadian, Kirby's novel was a pretty humbling reminder that just because abortions are legal in Canada, doesn't mean we don't have our problems too. I naively assumed that since Canadians have health care coverage and abortions are legal that it was easier here than most other places, but Kirby reminded me that like all other barriers many disadvantaged populations face, accessing an abortion is not necessarily easy.

Going beyond just abortions, Kirby also discussed topics such as forced sterilization, eugenics and LGBTQ+ rights when it comes to reproductive and medical supports. She gave historical contexts, broke down common biases and provided extensive and detailed information in a way that was passionate and persuasive but also succinct and non-confrontational. I would definitely recommend this book, both in print and as an audiobook. Kirby does speak fairly quickly at times, but she is easy to understand and her articulation was really clear. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, ECW Press (audio) for giving me the opportunity to listen to and review this fantastic audiobook!

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for providing me an e-arc of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review

I'm glad that pro-choice audiobook listeners in the teen (or above) age range now have this listening option. I thought Kirby covered many good points about reproductive rights and justice and that she did a good job of recognizing her own bias and privilege.

However, I feel like this would have been better to read as a book. All of the footnotes and boxes made the text feel a bit disjointed and even repetitive. Also, in terms of the "flow" of the audiobook the fact that each chapter's citations were read at the end of the chapter seemed disruptive. After the first set of citations I realized that could fairly easily be skipped but it still didn't lend itself to easy listening.

I thought there were a few issues with content as well. The biggest being that every date from every study or report or whatever was at least five years old. This makes since considering that the book was originally published in 2017, but with the audiobook releasing in 2021 I think it ight have been nice if somethings were updated. My other content criticism is the way that Kirby disregarded the pro-life movement. I don't agree with them, but Kirby mentioned that some people are pro-life, quickly insinuated that they were wrong, and then moved on. She also only had bad things to say about crisis pregnancy centers which, Along With Doing Bad Things, also work to support pregnant people who want to have a baby but can't easily for financial, social, or whatever reasons.

Overall I thought it was a good introduction to reproductive rights and a fine audiobook. If I knew a teen interested in the subject I would recommend it with only a few caveats.

[Lauren McCullough · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a great intro text into reproductive rights. It covers a nice range from early history of the movement to the modern approach.

I was glad to see the critical lens it took while looking at the movement because it's important to acknowledge the flaws along with the progress.

It's astonishing to be reading it in 2021 and see what has developed since its publication in 2017. There have been many steps taken here in the USA to restrict reproductive rights EVEN more than had already occurred at the time this was released.

My biggest complaint with the AUDIOBOOK version is that the footnotes are read aloud at the end of each chapter. I would have much preferred they were left until the end of the book.

Overall, this is a quick read and I would highly recommend it to anyone who interested in learning more about the topic. Especially teens and young adults. I think it's a great way to get them interested as well as provide ideas on how they can become involved in the fight to protect and advocate for reproductive rights.

[Jess | dapper.reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel makes its stance known as pro-choice while still sticking to the facts (with citations!!). On top of that, there’s a solid history lesson included, again with citations which honestly made this enjoyable for me. If I’m going to read non-fiction like this, I do enjoy the ease that citations add when fact checking - and as a fact checker I’m here for it!

I received the audiobook from NetGalley and I can say I have complaints. It’s short and sticks to the point.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives a well-researched timeline of many of the various attacks on women's reproductive rights. It goes far beyond abortion and includes information about eugenics and population control. I think this book is a must read for anyone who is researching these topics and it is quite timely at the moment. I listened to the audio version of the book, which is well done.

[Ash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well-written book about this topic. Could very well work as an introduction to the topic, the language used was very understandable, and the definitions given about different things, helped a lot. Def would recommend.

[Shane Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super important read! It was short but really impactful . I feel like. this would be a good read for anyone who wants to further their knowledge on reproductive rights especially with everything going on today. I am glad I was able to receive this audiobook through NetGalley.

[Oana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book for anyone looking to support human rights. I'll be also buying this for all the teenage girls I know.

[Megan McSherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

a quick read packed with a ton of info about nuances in the fight for reproductive justice (intersections of race, gender identity, disability, etc.)

[Sabrina Pisciotta]

great introductory book about reproductive rights and justice

[Trigger Warning Database]

Trigger & Content Warnings

Misogyny
Forced sterilisation
Restrictions of bodily autonomy
Mentions of residential schools