Should be required reading, November 28, 2007

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Mary S. Waters “maryqat” (Arcata, CA USA) – See all my reviews

  

I feel this book should be required reading for teen girls as part of a comprehensive sex education curriculum. The stories are individuals’ accounts of reproductive choices made. I like that it is not judgmental or weighted heavily to one side or the other. The topic of abortion is so loaded, with both sides apparently so entrenched, that it is humbling to read about the actual effects from people’s experience, and to realize that the women involved are people who have struggled with their choices. The book is not limited to abortion but touches on various areas of reproductive choice. While I feel men could learn a lot from the narratives, ultimately it is us as women who face the choices—birth control, unexpected pregnancy, infertility.

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Incredible, powerful book, December 20, 2007

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Karen Abraham (Hoboken, NJ United States) – See all my reviews

  

This is absolutely one of the most emotionally powerful, though-provoking, conviction-challenging books I have read in a number of years. I only wish I could give it six stars.

It is NOT, as some might think, all about the choice to have an abortion. It is about all the emotional, mental, and moral complexities of ANY pregnancy, and the desires, decisions, fears, and longings that go along with a pregnancy. There are stories of women who gave their children up for adoption, and have suffered the pain of wishing they could have kept their children for the rest of their lives. There are women who recount the histories of women in their family who did not have the choices that they themselves now have when faced with an abusive relationship, a pregnancy where the resulting child would be unlikely to survive, having absolutely no money to be able to take care of a child conceived despite carefully using birth control. There are women who had to choose between dying themselves and attempting to carry a much-wanted pregnancy to term. There are women who chose to become single mothers despite pressure to have an abortion or give up the baby for adoption. There are women who knew their fetus might be abnormal, but chose to have the baby, come what may. There are stories of women who had abortions, both legal and illegal, who had severe medical consequences as a result. There are women who had an abortion for an early pregnancy when they could not carry it to term, and are thankful for that choice because it gave them a chance at a better, happier life – and more children that they could care for and support – later in life. Women who miscarried, and have dealt with the pain of this loss. Women who adopted from another country, acutely aware of the terrible circumstances that must have led to the bio mother of their child having to give up her baby. Women who miscarried much-wanted children. Women who knew deep down that they were not meant to be mothers, and decided to not have children.

It is about choices – ALL the choices – associated with so many different pregnancy situations.

None of these situations are without feelings, without an awareness of other options or possibilities. Many of the women in these essays made decisions that they knew they had to make, but were gut-wrenching in the extreme. Many women in these essays support having ALL options available for pregnancies, even if they themselves strongly disagree with some of the options. In thinking forward to having my own family in the future and having never been pregnant (yet) myself, I have the utmost respect for most of the women in these essays in making these difficult choices (regardless of what choice they made) and strongly facing up to the consequences. Do not look for this book to be an unabashed endorsement of abortion – it is NOT that at all. That would be too simplistic to represent the reality of most women’s situations when faced with pregnancy.

I believe that this book should not only be required reading for teen and young adult girls/women, but also for the boys/men too. I would also strongly suggest it for women’s studies classes looking at reproduction.

I have already recommended it to several friends – one who appears to be infertile and is working on adopting from another country; another who is living with her boyfriend and will probably marry him, but may or may not be ready to be a mother now should she get accidentally pregnant; to a woman who got easily pregnant with her first two children, and conceived through a fairly foolproof form of birth control for her third.

Choices.

Even if you assume you will disagree with many of the decisions made here, pick up the book anyway. You may be surprised at the empathy you have for the women in these essays – and that you may even have something in common with them.

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Amazing, March 16, 2008

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Rebecca Parker “foxglove” – See all my reviews

  

This book was incredibly honest, heartfelt, and moving. The diversity of stories and voices kept me interested and the emotional power of these stories truly affected me. I found myself crying in the middle of class as I read this book (whilst pretending to take notes and pay attention in class). I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

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The Abortion Debate Has Never Been So Loony–John Carpenter Is Pro-Entertainment, December 10, 2006

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K. Harris “Film aficionado” (Albuquerque, NM) – See all my reviews

  

  

John Carpenter returns to Showtime’s “Masters of Horror” series with Season 2’s offering “Pro-Life.” As with most anthology series, the quality of any given episode and the reaction to it can be widely divergent. Carpenter’s entry from last season, “Cigarette Burns,” is one of its most divisive. It is regarded in some circles as the best the show had to offer and dismissed out of hand by others. I fell somewhere in between the debate ranking it in the middle/upper part of the pack.

Intriguingly enough, the Takeshi Miike episode banned from Season 1 involved a storyline revolving around abortions. “Pro-Life,” as you might guess from the title, also has this as a major theme. But don’t worry, this is no heavy handed diatribe–it’s light and loose but still has some sting to its barbs. This is a brand of horror that I like to think of as “everything but the kitchen sink.” It is a social satire and a commentary on pro-life extremists–but it also throws in a grisly birth, a massive gun fight, torture, a insectile creature with a baby head, a chasm to an alternate world, and what appears to be the devil himself. In other words, I pretty much loved it! Easily one of the more entertaining episodes, no one will confuse this with great art–but it’s a whole lot of fun.

The action gets going when a doctor from a local abortion clinic almost runs down a young girl fleeing from an unknown pursuer. Taking her into the hospital to make sure she’s all right, she confesses to being pregnant. She thinks God has brought her here to get an abortion. Her father ends up at the front gate demanding her return, he is a pro-life activist who has had previous run-ins with this establishment. What follows include a revelation about the unnatural origins of the fetus, a supernaturally fast pregnancy cycle, and a battle for the father to save his unborn grandchild.

There is lots of humor in “Pro-Life,” plenty of gore, and some crazy creatures. Ron Perlman and Caitlin Wachs are particularly effective as the pregnant girl and her father. For sheer loony entertainment value, this gets high marks for me. KGHarris, 12/06.

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People Are Too Harsh, January 10, 2009

Okay, so I’ve seen quite a few episode’s of Master’s Of Horror and to tell you the truth 95% are not that great. But I really liked this one, I don’t know what it is about it but I liked it. I see alot of folk’s didn’t care for it but hey, everyone is different. Anyhow a young girl get’s inpregnanted by a demon and goes to have an abortion while in the meantime her father and brother’s think it’s a child from god and try to force her to keep it. Of course she trie’s anyway’s because she know’s the truth about it but her crazy father chase’s her to the clinic, which by the way is like a small fortress. So she get’s in and her father get angry and from there insue’s gun battle’s, demon babie’s, torture and the one thing I didn’t like……the ending. If you must know about it, the girl has the baby which is like a spider/baby, the demon which imprenanted her show’s up and just when you think thing’s are gonna get better it doesn’t. You see the demon baby get’s killed but yet the demon does nothin about it and walk’s off like a sad kid who lost his or her dog. Maybe they ran out of time and that’s the best they could do being that there only hour long episode’s but damn, you could’ve done better than that. I guess that’s what you’d expect from John Carpenter who has made a few garbage movie’s in his time……..but, beside’s the ending it was a good little movie, whether you like it or not is up to you, oh and by the way I would give it 3 and 1/2 stars not four.

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Falls into silliness, October 2, 2007

An angry Ron Perlman armed with a gun is definitely one of the scariest images Masters of Horror has put on screen thus far, and it was a masterstroke for the series to land him for an episode. Unfortunately “Pro-Life,” about a teenage girl seeking an abortion to rid herself of a baby conceived by demonic rape, starts out strong but falls into silliness by the story’s end. There’s some topical social commentary here about abortion clinics and the pro-life debate, but all that gets tossed out the window the moment the demon in the rubber suit shows up. I don’t know how deliberately campy John Carpenter wanted to take the final act, but it’s disappointing given the forty minutes of strong buildup prior.

Worth a rental to see Ron Perlman’s performance, but Pro-Life feels like a missed chance to do something more with the horror genre.

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