I will start by saying that I could only manage one chapter of this book per night, as it made me so incredibly angry. Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win is an offshoot of Jessica Valenti’s “Abortion, Every Day” substack, and is full of infuriating, upsetting, and incredibly vital information about a weaponized healthcare issue.

Valenti doesn’t need lies, hyperbole, or purple prose. This concise guide lays out the facts, describes the tragedies abortion bans have caused, and the tricks that certain politicians and groups use to attempt to trick voters. The fact that this very personal issue is still being discussed in open forums by men with absolutely no medical training (or in some cases, a gross misunderstanding of how the female body works) makes me so depressed. And US voters have spoken; the majority are not in favor of banning abortion.

I think everyone should read this book; it is eye-opening. Abortion is not a “women’s issue”, it’s a human rights issue. Huge respect to Valenti for keeping emotion out of this book, and arming readers with vital knowledge.

If you ever have to have any conversations with any conservative who is anti-aboriton, this is the book for you. not only arms her reader with information about how the anti-abortion community is thinking and strategizing, she also arms us with how we can fight back. She reminds her reader, abortion is popular and moral, and that there is no reason to be on the defense. This short book is good and useful and does exactly what it sets out to do. I am really glad I read it in the final weeks of this election because I can articulate my thinking so much more clearly when it comes to health care and abortion rights.

READ THIS BOOK.

Abortion by Jessica Valenti is the manifestation of the anger we've felt since, at least, Roe fell. This gut punch of a book is filled with facts & stories of people harmed by abortion bans. But most importantly is Valenti's ability to walk us through the 50 year forced birthed game plan. Because banning abortion is not the end goal of the Right. And the lack of abortion care is not the only healthcare option impacted by Hobbs. Abortion bans means increased risk of death due to miscarriage, carrying doomed pregnancies to term risking lives, & causing lifelong trauma to sexual assault survivors.

It took the Right 50 years to win, we need to win it back NOW. And this book is our cheat sheet, even for those of us who have sounded the alarm for decades.

I first came across Jessica Valenti's work on abortion rights shortly after the Dobbs decision overturned the precedent of Roe v Wade. Both her Tiktok updates and her independent journalism in her newsletter have been a lifeline in a time where I have felt discouraged, frightened, and so damn angry. This book, Abortion, stems from the work of Abortion, Every Day. Valenti's newsletter tracks the daily (yes, daily!) ramifications of a post-Roe landscape, from developments in harsh anti-abortion legislation, to growing gynecological care deserts in states with abortion bans, to the cruel health and civil rights impacts of these bans on women generally and pregnancy specifically. In this book, Valenti synthesizes the recurring issues she has observed in the newsletter for pro=choice citizens to have a clear-eyed view on the intentional cruelty in Republican anti-abortion strategy. The chapters refute widely proliferated anti-abortion propaganda, break down common anti-abortion rhetoric, and lay out the facts to refuse normalization of this new landscape so that we can better fight for our rights.

This book is crucial but very emotionally difficult to read. Valenti unflinchingly explains the deliberate cruelty of conservative anti-abortion policy. Her clear-eyed prose is accessible and compassionate to the people who are suffering under these antidemocratic policies, plainly laying out the horror of widespread restrictive abortion bans. I found myself having to take frequent breaks so that I could process my own anger over this inhumane and dangerous new status quo. You do not need to be an activist to read this book. This is essential reading for anyone who cares at all about the right to govern one's own body.

An informative, but heart-breaking read, Jessica Valenti is known for researching the hard topics, as it relates to women and this latest addition to her writing is no exception. Peppered with stories about what has happened since the Dobbs decision, Valenti forces the reader to really dig deep to gain a better understanding of this issue from a more personal, instead of just political, perspective. I would highly recommend this book to induce lively book club discussions, to be included in feminist college classes, or just be on hand to add to the volatile conversation about the threat to reproductive health.

Jessica Valenti is a master at writing about "hard" and "complex" topics. I am grateful for the work Valenti has done over the past years reporting on abortion and this book is an excellent summary of that work. It is a perfect entry point for people who want to understand the horrors that have happened around abortion since the Dobbs decision and underlines what is at stake for this election and our futures.

Abortion by Jessica Valenti is no nonsense and right to the point about abortion bans and conservative tactics happening post-Roe. Valenti does a great job of looking at anti-abortion groups and politicians tactics such as focusing on emergency contraception to chip away at birth control access, narrowly defining abortion ban "exceptions" to look less punishing while also limiting abortions (ex: Katie Cox's case in Texas), trying to separate abortion from health care, and so many more sneaky tactics. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking into the affects of abortion bans.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC via Netgalley.

My mom has a friend who is a supposedly devout Catholic and who is completely anti-abortion. He votes Republican because of abortion, and only because of abortion. He presents himself as a good caring man, and maybe he actually is to other people. But last year, when I was recovering from a lumpectomy, I received an email from him. The email stated I was not doing enough to care for my mother and that caring for our parents as they grow older is a duty. He knew, he said, that I had health issues at the moment, but I needed to do more far more for my mother, to put her first as a good daughter should. Now, I got this email when I was recovering from surgery and basically, one armed for six weeks. The things that he claimed I hadn’t been doing broke down into two groups: (1) those I had already done before surgery and (2) those I offered to do before the surgery but my mom said no, and because of the surgery I couldn’t do at that time. At no point in the email was there an offer of help. I was furious in part because of the unjustness of the accusations, but also because this man knew that I had been caring for my mother (and my brother) for years and, more importantly, he never took care of his own parents. His sisters did. (In fairness, his sisters and parents lived in Canada; he lived in the US). This man knew that my brother had died of cancer a year before my cancer surgery and chose to make a very stressful time more stressful. Needless to say, after I replied, I blocked him.

I thought about him a lot while reading Valenti’s excellent book about abortion because he really is the type of guy she is writing about. It is the casual cruelty dressed up in religious language and tone. The cruelty is a point. And people think because they cloak themselves in religious language that the charge wouldn’t sick.

Valenti’s book about abortion is more about the arguments and strategies that anti-choice groups use to outlaw abortion. She looks at not only the impact of the laws but also the why. Basically, the why is controlling or punishing of women. But Valenti also addressed the actually science behind pregnancy and the fact that the majority of Americans support the right of women to chose. She showcases the effects of abortion bans – the difficulty of women to get out of state for an abortion (and how that might become illegal), the difficulty of proving that a woman needs an abortion for her own life. There are footnotes and citations. It is a well documented book, and as such debunks many claims that anti-choice people make about abortion.

Valenti’s book is born in part out of her Abortion, Everyday newsletter, but her analysis of certain aspects is particularly striking. The sections that discuss how the media reports on the abortion debate are great because of the examination of language. The morning after pill, for example, is not an abortifacient, something the media rarely directly says. Language is important; it is why pro-life is used instead of anti-choice. One sounds better than the other. Valenti notes that in some cases, anti-choice group uses strange language to describe an abortion that they see as acceptable – a separation for instance when talking about an abortion due to an ectopic pregnancy.
Her in depth look at the Crisis Pregnancy Centers run by anti-choice groups is horrifying, especially when governmental funds go into. How some states are addressing teaching pregnancy is also rage inducing. She also addresses the question of access not only to abortion put to good maternal care (over five million women in the US live in counties where there is little or no maternal care).

Valenti links much of the laws and would be laws back to how segments of society view women and what they see as a woman’s place. Why else arrest a woman who had miscarriage? It should also be noted that Valenti details how the impact is greater on women of color.

Valenti also addresses how various law makers address the issue (her description of Ted Cruz will make you laugh just a little). She also links abortion laws to threats to access to birth control, such as the forementioned morning after pill. But Valenti doesn’t only address law makers who are anti-choice; she points out how pro-choice lawmakers could be more vocal about being pro-choice.

Perhaps the book’s best bit is at the end. Here Valenti includes not only further reading material, but also a fact sheet so that a reader can easily present facts to conflicted parties. This was really nice touch.

While Valenti, rightly, says she does not debate anti-choice speakers, this book is an engaging primer on how to discuss abortion and to recognize attempts to curtail reproductive freedom.

This book feels incredibly timely, very much focused on the last two years post-Dobbs, and how the unthinkable has become everyday. Valenti is shockingly clear about how the tragedies we are now seeing are orchestrated, on purpose, and how the people who orchestrated them do not care and will not dial things back. Instead, they will double down, lie, obfuscate, make things up, etc. Some of the concepts are familiar if you read Valenti’s "Abortion, Every Day" (like how a "consensus" is a ban by another name, and how there’s no such thing as exceptions to abortion bans). But to see it all together in one book is powerful, devastating, and undeniable. Highly recommend reading and sharing with others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown for the opportunity to read this book early.

I’m about halfway through this book and I can say it’s an excellent resource. If you regularly read Valenti’s newsletter, Abortion, Every Day, much of the material will be familiar. But we are not the audience for this book. It’s a book you can give to your auntie or friend group or who ever it is in your life who is pro-choice but unaware of the severity of the ongoing threat to reproductive healthcare. Share this book!

Thank you, #netgalley and Crown for providing this ARC.