AustLit

'How much of an author’s experience of an abortion do we have a right to read about?'

'Are women obliged to mourn an abortion? Must we perform the role of La Llorona, condemned to weep for a lost child, even one we never wanted? Will it ever be possible to treat a termination as a simple medical procedure and feel uncomplicated relief? Even from the pro-choice camp there is sometimes a defensive argument that the choice is never easy. There is a tacit acceptance that the decision is necessarily a heavy one, even though the heaviness often comes not from the decision itself, but from the political weight society, particularly the anti-abortion minority, puts on the act of abortion and the bodies of those who have them.'(Introduction)   

'As an abortion provider for more than forty years, and an advocate for abortion law reform and improved abortion services for more than fifty, I approached this book with alacrity. Around one hundred thousand abortions are performed in Australia every year, yet abortion is still not easily talked or written about. I felt that a non-fiction work of nearly three hundred pages on the topic, by a person who had experienced abortion, would be a welcome addition to existing literature, something that other people, contemplating or experiencing abortion, might absorb themselves in.' (Introduction)