Bitter Fruit: Women's Experiences of Unplanned Pregnancy, Abortion, and Adoption [Hardcover]

Rita Townsend (Author), Ann Perkins (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Townsend, a family counselor, and Perkins, a writer who had an abortion at age 18, bring together personal stories, poetry and art by women about their unplanned pregnancies and the consequences. Ranging in age from 15 to 39 when they became pregnant, these women express similar feelings of sadness in having to come to terms with a pregnancy that they hadn't consciously chosen. One woman could not bring herself to undergo an illegal abortion in unsanitary conditions; forced back to work too soon after the birth, she suffered a hysterectomy and gave her son up for adoption because she could not support him. Another woman chose an abortion after she discovered the fetus had spina bifida. And another tells of her struggle to raise her three children with neither emotional nor financial support from their father. Whether they opted for abortion (as the majority did), adoption or childrearing, many of the women express strongly contradictory emotions about their decisions, emotions that belie the myth that there is an easy solution to the problem of unwanted pregnancy. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

To be young, pregnant, and alone. What does that feel like? What choices are open? What is the emotional impact of deciding to have an abortion, to give birth and keep the baby, or to give birth and give up the baby for adoption? Women who faced those decisions recount the ordeal. In interviews, poetry, and drawings they express the deep feelings those decisions engendered. This is somewhat similar to Angela Bonavoglia's Choices We Made: 25 Women and Men Speak Out About Abortion ( LJ 12/90), except that the women interviewed here are not famous. A moving, unsettling, revealing book. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
- Florence Scarinci, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Hunter House (August 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897931076
• ISBN-13: 978-0897931076
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,293,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT, July 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Bitter Fruit: Women's Experiences of Unplanned Pregnancy, Abortion, and Adoption (Hardcover)

Good book on the topics of abortion, adoption, and pregnancy. How women deal with the choices involved; book is interviews with women making these decisions and who have made these decisions in their lifetime...telling their own story.