Main description:

Cracked Open is Miriam Zoll's eye-opening account of growing into womanhood with the simultaneous opportunities offered by the U.S. women's movement and new discoveries in reproductive technologies. Influenced by the pervasive media and cultural messages suggesting that science had finally eclipsed Mother Nature, Zoll postponed motherhood until the age of 40. When things don't progress as she had hoped, she enters a world of medical seduction and bioethical quagmires. Desperate to conceive, she surrenders to unproven treatments and procedures only to learn that the odds of becoming a mother through reproductive technologies are far lower than she and her generation had been led to believe. Miriam Zoll is an award-winning writer and an international public health and reproductive rights advocate and educator. She is the founding co-producer of the Ms. Foundation for Women's annual Take Our Daughters (and Sons) To Work Day and a member of the board of Our Bodies Ourselves. "A harrowing and moving account - Zoll's book provides a sobering perspective not offered by brochures and baby-laden clinic websites. It is a must read for anyone contemplating assisted reproduction."
- Gina Maranto, author of Quest for Perfection: The Drive to Breed Better Human Beings "In a skillful melding of personal story and medical and policy facts, Miriam Zoll asks all the right questions about the ethics of assisted reproductive technology and the place baby making has in women's lives and identity." - Frances Kissling, President, Center for Health, Ethics and Social Policy; former President, Catholics for Choice