Main description:

Until the late 1960s, the authorities on abortion were for the mostpart men-politicians, clergy, lawyers, physicians, all of whomhad an interest in regulating women's bodies. Even today, when wehear women speak publicly about abortion, the voices are usually thoseof the leaders of women's and abortion rights organizations,women who hold political office, and, on occasion, female physicians.We also hear quite frequently from spokeswomen for anti-abortiongroups. Rarely, however, do we hear the voices of ordinarywomen-women whose lives have been in some way touched byabortion. Their thoughts typically owe more to human circumstance thanto ideology, and without them, we run the risk of thinking and talkingabout the issue of abortion only in the abstract.

Without Apology seeks to address this issue by gatheringthe voices of activists, feminists, and scholars as well as abortionproviders and clinic support staff alongside the stories of women whoseexperience with abortion is more personal. With the particular aim ofmoving beyond the polarizing rhetoric that has characterized the issueof abortion and reproductive justice for so long, WithoutApology is an engrossing and arresting account that will promoteboth reflection and discussion.

Contents:

Introduction: Without Apology / Shannon Stettner

1 Abortion in Canada: A History / Shannon Stettner

Part I Speaking from Experience

2 Giving Voice to the Unspeakable / Judith Mintz

3 T.A. / Clarissa Hurley

4 But I Kept All These Things, and Pondered Them in My Heart / JessWoolford

5 Keep It Small / Evey Hornbeck

6 A Bad Law and a Bold Woman / Bernadette Wagner

7 I Don't Blame the Abortion / Rebecca

8 [untitled] / Mackenzie

Part II Abortion Rights Activism

9 The Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics: Reproductive Freedomand the Campaign to Overturn the Federal Abortion Law / Carolyn Eganand Linda Gardner

10 The Radical Handmaids and Stephen Harper's War on Women,Battleground 2012: Reopening the Abortion Debate / Aalya Ahmad /Radical Handmaids

11 Arts4choice.com / Martha Solomon

12 "We Can Get There Faster If We All Move Together": TheBirth of a Reproductive Justice Academic Activist / ColleenMacQuarrie

13 We Need to See Change: One Woman's Motivations for PushingWaves on Prince Edward Island / Sadie Roberts

14 Pro-Choice Organizing on Canadian University Campuses: Unpackingthe Debate over Free Speech Versus Hate Speech / Kelly Holloway

Part III Challenging Opposing Positions

15 Blinded by the Right: My Past as an Anti-abortion Activist /Natalie Lochwin

16 One Woman's Evolving View of Abortion / Tracey L.Anderson

17 Pro-Choice for God's Sake / Shannon Pinkney

18 Abortion Commentary / Laura Wershler

19 Pro-abortion and Proud: Exploring Alternative ReproductiveJustice Labels / Laura Gillespie

20 Same as It Ever Was: Anti-Choice Extremism and the "ThirdWay" / Jane Cawthorne

21 Women over Ideology / Nick Van der Graaf

Part IV Practitioners and Clinic Support

22 Lessons from Life in Abortion Care / Peggy Cooke

23 "Do you think I will go to hell for this?" / RuthMiller

24 The Counsellor's Voice / Erin Mullan

25 Empathy: Whose Choice Is OK? / Ellen Wiebe

26 Therapeutic Abortion / Sterling Haynes

27 "I am proud to provide abortions" / Evan James

Part V Sites of Struggle

28 The Choice Between Rights and Revolution / Karen Stote

29 Sex Selection Abortions: The Politics of Race in MulticulturalCanada / Bindy Kang

30 The Public Pregnancy: How the Fetal Debut and the Public HealthParadigm Affect Pregnancy Practice / Jen Rinaldi

31 A Harm-Reduction Approach to Abortion / Shannon Dea

The Unfinished Revolution / Shannon Stettner