Woman's Body, Woman's Right

by Linda Gordon

By 1850, most contraceptive methods and abortion were illegal in America. But in the late 19th century, American women began demanding the right to prevent or terminate pregnancy. Gordon traces the story of this controversy, and includes new material on recent movements to outlaw abortion.

Genres: Feminism, History, Nonfiction, American History

479 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Linda Gordon is the Florence Kelley Professor of History at New York University. She is the author of numerous books and won the Bancroft Prize for The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction. She lives in New York. "

Reviews

[Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a first year graduate student and it was life altering for me. It led me to pursue the research path I have followed for the past twenty years.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This should be a text book given in schools. Is it a little bit of a dry read? Yes. Is it a little outdated? 100%. Does this book have plenty mind opening information. ABSOLUTELY! A great read with great information.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the classics of birth control history, though its mid-1970s provenance leads to some very Marxist, pre-Foucauldian analysis.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

A topic that is interesting from both a historical and technical viewpoint.

[Chelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gordon delivers a lot of the same information in, "The Moral Property of Women". This isn't a criticism-- clearly if two books are focused on the same subject, they should feature similar observations. While this book is dated, and one can tell that it was written in the important-but-limited (as far as the perspectives of non-white women go...) it is also a very important reader in an era during which an equal number of young people are anti-choice. Additionally, readers who are well acquainted with more contemporary policies regarding abortion can glean loans of new information from her scholarship regarding abortion and other birth-control methods in pre-industrial societies.
My only complaint regarding this book has absolutely nothing to do with the author: Some jerk at my school's library tore pages out of work! The horror! Respect boks, even if you don't agree with them, people.
I guess its worth noting that I consider this and her other work, The Moral Property of Women, so important that I'd actually purchase them (once I get monies...), if I can find another copy.
(On another, kind-of-unrelated note, I was pleasantly surprised by my (catholic) school's selection regarding abortion (not that I expected them to completely sensor, but Lenin and other important socialist works are/were categorized in the Social Dysfunction section. Yeah.) but it'd be nice if 1: they could procure more recent publications and 2: feminist scholarship could er, write about abortion and its defense more actively (aggressively, even!) , especially now that abortion will face restrictions under our new (paltry) healthcare reforms!