CHOICE explores the one of the most polarizing political issues of our time reproductive choice.
CHOICE attempts to raise the discourse on reproductive choice, which often devolves to cliches and name-calling, by posing the question–what is it like to make any sort of reproductive choice? What is it truly like to use birth control, the morning after pill, use a sperm bank, have an abortion, adopt a child, give a child up for adoption, bring a pregnancy to term?
In these 22 stunningly honest essays, writers describe their experiences making some of these decisions, as well as many others. Established writers such as Francine Prose, Jaquelyn Mitchard, Pam Houston, Carolyn Ferrell, Ann Hood, Deborah Macdowell, and Sarah Messer contribute essays, along with emerging writers such as Kimi Faxon Hemingway, Stephanie Anderson, and Ashley Talley.
The essays in CHOICE explore the complexities inherent in every reproductive decision, whether it is to choose to have a child or terminate a pregnancy; the guiding philosophy of the book is that this issue is too complex and individual to be legislated, and the writers honesty about their experiences will humanize this issue, no matter what the reader’s stand on it.
“…this collection of essays from women writers is dedicated to bringing nuance,
compassion and understanding to an issue that has been reduced to bumper-sticker sloganeering and knee-jerk oversimplification.” – Los Angeles Times
“From adoption to abortion, birth to infertility, Karen E. Bender and Nina de Gramont‘s anthology of stunningly honest essays encompasses all the contradictions and complicated emotions surrounding Choice.” – Vanity Fair
“Karen E. Bender and Nina de Gramont have made an important contribution to [the] ongoing national debate with Choice…Theirs are moving, alarming, uplifting, frightening and provocative testaments…No matter where you stand on the abortion continuum, there are stories here that will make you weep or smile or think harder about what you believe. Or all three at once.” – Hartford Courant
“Choice examines contemporary reproductive issues from every perspective…smart and heart-wrenching…” – 7×7 Magazine
“Choice rightly asserts that the debate over reproductive choice is more layered, more personal and less political than it appears at first glance.” – San Francisco Chronicle
”[T]o lay bare personal experience is to leave oneself vulnerable to attack from either side. Yet the 24 contributors to Choice have taken this risk, writing with searing honesty and intimacy about their own choices. The result is an exceptional and brave collection…The essays in Choice are at once thoughtful and emotional, intensely personal yet eminently relatable. Together they illustrate the complexities and subtleties of an issue too often reduced to simplistic moral judgments. This is a must-read for every woman. No, make that everyone.” – Debra Ginsberg, Shelf Awareness
“…wrenching…These essays dismantle the abstract notion of reproductive rights by showing the consequences of choice and demonstrating how loss and devotion reside deep inside that right. I defy any conservative to read a single piece in this book and think that choice implies that the decision is easy.” – Literary Mama
“…[a] superb anthology…Many are harrowing to read…Even the most wrenching, however, are leavened by the hope that the ability to choose allows their authors.”
– Brain, Child Magazine
“…startling strength and clarity of these incredibly personal stories…[the contributors] are fierce in their belief that no one could have, or should have, told them what the best choice was for them. They are staunchly united in their opposition that anyone should ever impose such restrictions on what they know, first hand, to be incredibly personal decisions. And their stories need to be heard.” – Feminist Review
“This collection, compiled by two savvy fiction writers fed up with the bumper-sticker mentality of most pro-life and pro-choice arguments, illuminates the volume of options, obstacles and ambivalence that reproduction brings through personal, often painful stories of real women…Each tale is unique, and politically charged buzz terms (RU-486, Roe V. Wade, etc.) gain new impact nestling alongside these writers’ honest quests for basic human needs: love, nurturing, and above all, possibility.” – Publishers Weekly
“The essays explore the complexities behind decisions women make about their reproductive lives…This collection offers exquisitely individual and candid looks at the meaning of choice.” – Booklist
“This anthology’s content is aptly described by its title, and the quality of
its prose is what makes it distinctive…Bender and de Gramont’s attention to the full range of women’s reproductive choices should be welcomed in most libraries.”
– Library Journal
“This is a moving book that demonstrates in no uncertain terms that reproductive choice is a responsibility, and that there can be no valid reason to take that choice from women and give it to legislators. I recommend this book to every man in America who cares about our society.” – Jane Smiley, author of A Thousand Acres,
Ten Days in the Hills, and Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel