Tired of the deadlock of abortion rhetoric?
Read about real, life-affirming choices we all can support.
Real Choices
Listening to Women; Looking For Alternatives to Abortion.
For years debate has raged between pro-life and pro-choice advocates in the political realm: Should abortion remain legal or not? Which is more important-a woman's right to choose or a baby's right to life? Both sides propound their beliefs with equal passion, while abortions continue at the rate of four thousand per day.
Frederica Mathewes-Green cuts through the Gordian knot of pro-life/pro-choice rhetoric with a new, down-to-earth perspective: instead of pitting the baby's rights against the mother's, why not look for ways to help them both?
Real Choices is a drink of fresh, peaceful water in a desert of polarization and hostility. First introduced in 1994 to an enthusiastic reception, Real Choices continues to draw praise from people across the spectrum who are concerned with the abortion problem in America and how to solve it.
"A realistic and personal portrayal of abortion in America and what can be done about it." -Helen Alvaré, Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, National Conference of Catholic Bishops
"As a pro-choice activist concerned with why women choose abortion, I wish that her approach would be the one adopted by the pro-life movement in general." -Naomi Wolf, Author and Pro-Choice Strategist
"Real Choices provides a crucial understanding of the pressures women contemplating abortion face. This study is a great contribution to those who want to bring about an abortion-free America." -Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Eleanoré Raoul Professor of the Humanities, Emory University
Read Real Choices and find out why women really have abortions. You might be suprised.
Frederica Mathewes-Green, a one-time abortion advocate, was converted to the pro-life cause after reading a description of an abortion in Esquire magazine. Yet her primary interest has remained in the area of helping women resolve the problems caused by unwanted pregnancy, rather than in the political struggle to make abortion illegal. For this book she held "listening groups" in seven American cities to hear firsthand from women who had had abortions what situations led them to feel that was their best or only choice. She hoped to learn how support from caring communities might have helped them resolve those problems instead. What she learned was counter to her expectations, and presented a surprising new view of women's most heartfelt needs. In Real Choices, chapters listening to women's stories alternate with chapters considering various topics that affect the abortion decision, for example adoption, welfare, and workplace reform.
Mathewes-Green is a regular commentator on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and on the Odyssey TV Network's "NewsOdyssey." She has had a nationally syndicated column, and now writes a column for Christianity Today magazine. She has been published in the Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, National Review, Policy Review, First Things, the Christian Century, the Information Please Women's Sourcebook, and many other national publications. She has been interviewed on ABC, NBC, CNN, and C-SPAN, on Monitor, Pacifica, UPI and National Public Radio, and in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and elsewhere.
A past vice-president of Feminists for Life of America, Mathewes-Green serves on the boards of the Susan B. Anthony List, Americans United for Life, and the Orthodox Peace Fellowship. She is a founding leader of the Common Ground movement, which brings together pro-life and pro-choice advocates in constructive dialogue. Her other book is Facing East: A Pilgrim's Journey into the Mysteries of Orthodoxy (Harper Collins, 1997).
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