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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A cri de coeur and passionate appeal from writers, thinkers, musicians, actors, comedians, activists and political staffers, offering personal stories of abortion alongside historical record and political anecdote.
'At a time when abortion is a criminal act and prosecution is a real risk in parts of Australia, this book is needed more than ever. In 2018, the world watched aghast when a Tasmanian woman lost her job at a high-profile sporting agency for tweeting the truth: even in states where abortion is legal, access can be nearly impossible.
'This treasury of stories highlights the sheer, unspoken commonality of abortion. Women have been dealing with the risks and the fall-out for longer than there is record. It is poignant, wise, funny and true; a salute to those who have been working in the field, a celebration of how far we've come, an electrifying caterwaul at how far we still have to go, and a clarion call to action.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Notes
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Contributors include Jane Caro, Claudia Karvan, Laura Jean, Melissa Lucashenko, Emily Maguire, Tara June Winch, Michelle Law, Tony Birch, Melanie Cheng, Anne Summers, Gideon Haigh, Monica Dux, Bri Lee, Jenny Kee, and a foreword by Tanya Plibersek.
Contents
- Free and Relieved, single work prose
- Doctor Marshall, single work prose
- The Apple Isle, single work prose
- Who Are the Abortion Providers, and What Does the Future Hold?, single work prose
- Out of the Shadows : Abortion in Queensland, single work prose
- Together We Are Powerful, single work prose
- Day of, single work prose
- I Dreamed I Lost My Reproductive Rights in My Maidenform Bra, single work prose
- For the Long Haul, single work prose
- Unwed Teen Mum Mary, single work prose
- The Racket, single work prose
- A Slice of Life, 1965, single work prose
- Given the Options, single work prose
- A Twitter Thread : Abortion, Unwanted Pregnancies and Irresponsible Ejaculation, single work prose
- Snorkel, single work prose
- Choosing, single work prose
- My Silent Scream, single work prose
- How Abortion Set Me Free, single work prose
- Still Dancing, single work prose
- In Conversation : Jenny Kee and Grace Heifetz, Louise Swinn (interviewer), single work interview
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Louise Swinn , Choice Words: A Collection of Writing About Abortion, Sydney
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Queensland Review , December vol. 27 no. 2 2020; (p. 206-208)
— Review of Choice Words : A Collection of Writing about Abortion 2019 anthology prose autobiography -
Compelling Body of Work Surrounding Termination
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6 April 2019; (p. 18)
— Review of Choice Words : A Collection of Writing about Abortion 2019 anthology prose autobiography'“[A] woman’s ovaries belong to the commonwealth; she is simply their custodian,” American physician Ely van de Warker wrote in 1906.' (Introduction)
-
The Desperate, Secretive Drama
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: The Monthly , May no. 155 2019; (p. 53-54)'The article offers information on Angela Williamson's essay in "Choice Words: A collection of writing about abortion." Topics discussed include several writers who explore the ways in which, in the absence of any useful discussion of the topic at home or school, popular culture shaped their early attitudes towards abortion; and her story is visceral and angry, sad, intimate and at times darkly comic.' (Publication abstract)
-
Not. At. All. : A Grenade of a Book in a Lolly Wrapper
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 410 2019; (p. 20-21)'Rosie Waterland was twenty-one, couch surfing, and working at a cinema when she learned she was pregnant. A hot flush, then a wave of nausea, hit her on the toilet. ‘It was the kind of nausea that takes away any sense of dignity that a person has,’ she writes. She stripped off, lay down on the bathroom floor, and prayed for the feeling to pass.' (Introduction)
-
Compelling Body of Work Surrounding Termination
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6 April 2019; (p. 18)
— Review of Choice Words : A Collection of Writing about Abortion 2019 anthology prose autobiography'“[A] woman’s ovaries belong to the commonwealth; she is simply their custodian,” American physician Ely van de Warker wrote in 1906.' (Introduction)
-
Louise Swinn , Choice Words: A Collection of Writing About Abortion, Sydney
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Queensland Review , December vol. 27 no. 2 2020; (p. 206-208)
— Review of Choice Words : A Collection of Writing about Abortion 2019 anthology prose autobiography -
Not. At. All. : A Grenade of a Book in a Lolly Wrapper
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 410 2019; (p. 20-21)'Rosie Waterland was twenty-one, couch surfing, and working at a cinema when she learned she was pregnant. A hot flush, then a wave of nausea, hit her on the toilet. ‘It was the kind of nausea that takes away any sense of dignity that a person has,’ she writes. She stripped off, lay down on the bathroom floor, and prayed for the feeling to pass.' (Introduction)
-
The Desperate, Secretive Drama
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: The Monthly , May no. 155 2019; (p. 53-54)'The article offers information on Angela Williamson's essay in "Choice Words: A collection of writing about abortion." Topics discussed include several writers who explore the ways in which, in the absence of any useful discussion of the topic at home or school, popular culture shaped their early attitudes towards abortion; and her story is visceral and angry, sad, intimate and at times darkly comic.' (Publication abstract)
