It kind of bothers me that I was not as hooked by this one as I thought I would be. I am not sure if it was the writing style or what. It was very dry, I felt. Maybe it was because it is the story of reproductive rights in a country other than the one I live in. I really don't know. The story is an important one though, and that is why I continued reading, even when it became more of a chore than anything else.

The idea for the caravan began in January of 1970 and the Vancouver Women's Caucus began putting together a plan for how best to petition the government to bring about the legalization of abortion in Canada. It is important to remember that this was, of course, long before social media was a thing. Even long-distance calls were not common - or cheap. Yet even with these challenges, a group of seventeen women left Vancouver, a collection of women from various walks of life all crammed into a convertible, a VW bus, and a truck. Over the course of their journey toward Ottawa, the women made stops in various towns and cities to get their message across, hold rallies and give speeches, to gather support, and to draw more attention to the cause they fought for - the fundamental right for a woman to have control over her own body.

The journey was not easy and there were squabbles among the women traveling, arguments sometimes that threatened to pull their mission apart. But even so, day after day and mile after mile, they continued on, knowing their purpose and their end goal was so important. Thousands of women died each year from botched abortions performed by back-ally doctors who were not often actual doctors. It had to end, and abortion had to become legal and SAFE.

After over 3,000 miles the Abortion Caravan reached its destination - Parliament Hill in Ottawa. There they staged their grandest performances yet, drawing the attention of the entire country. The women camped out on Pierre Trudeau's lawn in protest and managed to infiltrate the visitor galleries of parliament and chain themselves to their chairs, demanding that their voices be heard. Parliament was effectively shut down as a result, but their efforts worked in the long run. While the Abortion Caravan became a unifying symbol for women across the whole of Canada who believed in their right to be in charge of their own bodies, it would take another 18 years for reproductive rights laws to officially changed. In that time doctors were performing abortions, and were often charged with the 'crime', but were often also acquitted.

Over all the book was very informative, but simply not told in a very engaging way and I really had to force myself to finish reading it.

Karin Wells’ The Abortion Caravan is about an event, little-known to most, about a group of Canadian women who traveled across their country to protest women’s inability to get legal, safe abortions. Wells’ book is a well-written and compelling account of the women involved in this journey, illustrating why they joined it, and then the various tensions within this group committed to a common cause. But it has a broader resonance for those interested in the evolution of the abortion debate and the struggle for women’s rights. I would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy of this manuscript in exchange for this honest review.

For many citizens of the United States, the cross-Canada trek made by a group of Canadian women in 1971 to protest women's lack of access to legal, safe abortions sadly is a little known event, as most of us learn little about the history of Canada in school. This book offers a fascinating and detailed account of Canadian women's struggles to draw attention to the plight of women forced to seek back-alley abortions. This account draws the reader in by bringing to life the women who took part in this journey, showing the divergent reasons why they joined the caravan and the differences in political ideology that created tensions within this group. These vignettes ensure that this well-researched monograph never becomes a dry academic tome.

Because the author takes the time to situate these women's actions in the broader historical context of events in Canada and the United States, such as the protests taking place in the United States and Canada against the Vietnam War, the growing dissatisfaction of young women with the roles male protesters allocated them in groups such as the SDS, and efforts to coordinate feminist protest actions in Canada and the United States, US readers need not fear that they will be unable to follow this narrative. In fact, I think that US readers will be fascinated by the similarities and differences between the abortion debate in the two countries and in women's struggle to bring about changes in misogynistic governmental policies and societal norms.

Given recent and ongoing attacks on women's legal right to choose in the United States and efforts at the provincial level in Canada to restrict access to abortion, this book is an important read for any woman interested in preserving women's right to control their bodies.