The Abortion Myth: Feminism, Morality, and the Hard Choices Women Make

by Leslie Cannold, Rene Denfeld (Contributor)

A new voice urges feminism to evolve a richer, more nuanced understanding of abortion.

The feminist position on abortion is little changed from thirty years ago, argues Leslie Cannold. Mired in the rhetoric of "rights," feminists have failed to appreciate women's actual experience of abortion and have ceded the debate on the morality of abortion to the anti-choice contingent. In order to counter the current erosion of abortion rights and appeal to women of Generation X, who don't remember a time when abortion wasn't safe and legal, feminism must evolve a richer, more nuanced understanding of abortion, she says, one that is premised on the right to choose, yet sensitive to the value of the fetus and the serious responsibilities of motherhood.

Cannold, an American bioethicist working in Australia, seeks to forge a new ethics of abortion in her groundbreaking book. Drawing on her own study of women's actual experiences of and attitudes toward abortion, she documents the difficult choices women make and the moral and ethical reasoning they bring to bear on the question of abortion, whether they are pro- or anti-choice. In the lived experience of women, she finds a practical ethics of abortion in which termination is not only a moral response to an unplanned pregnancy, it may be the only moral response.

Feminism must develop a new appreciation of what abortion means to women, Cannold argues. Women's right to choose (or reject) motherhood, rather than to "control their bodies," must be at the center of this new approach, as must the responsive, caring relationship between the pregnant woman and her fetus. Such an approach to this volatile issue speaks to the concerns of both pro- and anti-choice advocates, offering a middle ground in an often polarizing debate. Upon her book's publication in Australia, The Bulletin (Australia's weekly news magazine) declared that "a refreshingly forthright and compassionate voice has broken through the rancour and tedium of this benighted controversy." This first American edition, revised and with a new introduction, brings Cannold's new voice and perspective to a new audience.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Philosophy, Textbooks, Psychology

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 1999

About the author

Leslie is a non-fiction and fiction writer. Her books include ‘The Abortion Myth: feminism, morality and the hard choices women make’ and ‘What, No Baby?’. She’s authored chapters in numerous anthologies including ‘Destroying the Joint,' `‘The Australian Book of Atheism’ and the fictional `Sincerely: Further adventures in the art of correspondence from Women of Letters'. In the wake of the success of her first novel, the historical ‘The Book of Rachael’, Leslie is currently working on a second novel and a non-fiction project due out in 2022 project about love, trust and betrayal set in contemporary times.

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

kind of soft-pedalling. its whole point is like "women think about abortion really hard and it's a tough decision". well, that's often true, and it's important to acknowledge those experiences, but I don't actually give a shit if people are intentionally getting pregnant just so they can have abortions to put in their omelettes. bodily autonomy, yo. if you don't have that, you have nothing. and I really wish there was more stuff out there that was more hard-line on this, that called out anti-abortion propaganda for the controlling bullshit it is. it's. not. about. saving. babies. it's about controlling women's behaviour.

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to be honest. I read this book trying to get a perspective from the other side of the issue. While I do not agree with the authors viewpoints, she did help me to see that women, no matter what they believe about abortion, honestly believe they are helping people. No matter how I look at it, I cannot see how abortion is helpful. But it was educational to read from someone else's point of view.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps the to most disturbing thing in this pro-choice book the response when the author asked pro-choice people about artificial wombs. She asked pro-choice women whether, if they had an unwanted pregnancy, they would be willing to place their baby in an artificial womb and let it grow and be adopted, so they would not have to go through the pregnancy but didn't have to kill the baby. Unanimously, the pro-choicers rejected this. The author summarizes their beliefs by saying that the pro-choice position doesn't just mean ending a pregnancy, but also deciding that a fetus should die. To these pro-choicers, abortion isn't about an empty womb, it's about a dead baby. It was also hard to see so many women saying that they aborted for the good of their baby. That they loved their baby, so they had an abortion because then the child wouldn't grow up unwanted. I don't know if they really believe this, or were just saying it will assuage their consciences ever get. Putting aside that there are 2 million families in our country who want to adopt, it's never kind or loving to dismember someone.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a very interesting read.
My biggest objection is that she constantly refers to her finds as the result of research which shows how real women think and what they feel. However, her conclusions are based on a sample size of 45, which is incredible small compared to the total population size. This sample also seemed very unvaried. A true researcher would have realized that this would impact their research in a negative manner.

[Brenna McCaffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relied too heavily on the idea of motherly instincts and that all women imagine their unwanted pregnancies as their children. Otherwise, good points.

[Caitc · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book challenged and deepened my perceptions and understanding of the personal decisions that women make around unplanned pregnancy and abortion. A must read for anyone interested in this area. It will help others to 'walk in the shoes' of women who have experienced unplanned and unwanted pregnancy.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this because had read Rene Denfeld's The Enchanted and in researching her a bit, I found that she apparently has made some strong remarks about '60's - '70's feminism failing to speak to women of her age. In the process, I learned she wrote the introduction to the American edition of this book by Leslie Cannold, originally published in Australia.

While not overwhelmed by the logic and information of this book, now some fourteen years from publication, I did find it thoughtful and worthy of reading. I am encouraging friends to read it so we can have conversations about the information and positions it presents (mostly UK and US). In the meantime, having been away from the topic other than the media swirling around it, I am again interested in thoughtful books on the topic of abortion as policy and a matter of law that might have been written since 2000.