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Bibliothèque | Type de document | Numéro de cote topographique | Nombre d'enregistrements enfants | Emplacement | Statut | Réservations du document |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Recherche en cours... West | Book | 363.4 H444 | 1 | Non-fiction Collection | Recherche en cours... Inconnu | Recherche en cours... Indisponible |
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Résumé
Sue Hertz, who has written about such sensitive topics as AIDS, infant euthanasia and battered women, takes a brave, even-handed look at the people behind the politics of abortion--the most divisive issue since slavery. Focusing on those ordinary Americans who confront the issue every day, this is must reading for anyone who is struggling with the complex and conflicting passions of abortion rights.
Critiques (3)
Critique de Kirkus
A skillful report by Hertz (Journalism/Univ. of New Hampshire) on the struggles of Preterm Health Services, an abortion clinic in Brookline, Mass., to continue operating amid repeated efforts by an anti-abortion group, Operation Rescue, to shut it down. Hertz captures not only the dedication and weariness of Preterm's staff, the fears and anguish of its patients, and the fervor of Operation Rescue's leaders, but also the mixed feelings of the police assigned to monitor the anti-abortionists, head off trouble when possible, and arrest demonstrators when necessary. Anti-abortionists are not Preterm's only problem: pro-choice demonstrators, with their own political agenda in mind, heighten the crisis as they regularly confront their adversaries outside the clinic's doors. Hertz follows the story for one year, from March 1989 to March 1990, weaving in the political and legal background of the abortion conflict as it was then unfolding (in 1989 the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Webster case, a signal to many that women's rights under Roe v. Wade were in danger of being whittled away). Hertz's main concern is for those inside the clinic, as zealots on both sides wage their vocal and sometimes physical battles outside, and she is very good at getting inside the heads of staff and patients alike. Similarly, she helps the reader understand the feelings of the Irish Catholic detective who has to monitor the anti- abortionists, but her empathy does not extend to the leaders of Operation Rescue, and the pro-choice activists are given short shrift. Die-hards on both sides will object, but others will find this a gripping account by a woman who understands women and a writer who knows her subject and her craft.
Critique de Booklist
Hertz captures the violence, tragedy, and courage of human beings caught up in the complex set of legal, ethical, and moral dilemmas surrounding the abortion issue. Hertz is indeed on the front lines with those involved--physicians, health-care workers, family members, the police who manage the protestors who barricade clinics--being especially sensitive to the lives of the women who are faced with a difficult, painful, and too often unsupported decision. Highly recommended reading. Bibliography. ~--Jane Jurgens
Critique du Library Journal
Between March 1989 and March 1990, the Supreme Court handed down its Webster v. Reproductive Health Services decision, pro-choice women marched on Washington twice, and abortion activism abounded. During that same period Hertz was behind the scenes in a Massachusetts abortion clinic, and she presents an engrossing account of the terrors and exhilarations, the triumphs and failures, of the principals involved in one of the most controversial and emotional issues of our time. In her crisp journalistic style, Hertz looks at abortion's battlefield through the eyes of clinic staffers, pro-choice and pro-life activists, police, and patients trying to come to grips with the most wrenching decision of their lives. Life is often more compelling than fiction, as this well-written book proves, and readers will find it hard to put down. For all public and academic libraries.-- Linda Knaack, Univ. of Lowell Lib., Mass. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.