Why I Am an Abortion Doctor [Hardcover]

Suzanne T. Poppema (Author), Mike Henderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1996 | ISBN-10: 1573920452 | ISBN-13: 978-1573920452 | Edition: 1

In America's highly emotional debate on abortion, pro-life and pro-choice advocates have had their say. But the public remains dangerously uninformed about what actually goes on inside an abortion clinic, and even fewer would understand why a doctor would specialise in providing this service. In this candid account, Dr Suzanne T. Poppema shares intimate details about her own life and work in an effort to promote better understanding of the reality of abortion and the violent forces that threaten a woman's right to choose. She offers readers a view from the clinic operating room as well as valuable information on the abortion pill known as RU 486, for which her clinic has served as an FDA test site. This is a must read not only for every woman but also for anyone who has ever felt strongly about either side of the abortion question.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Poppema, a pro-choice feminist and physician, runs Aurora Medical Services, a birth control clinic in Seattle that she founded in 1986. Both an affecting, outspoken autobiographical memoir and a veritable manual for women considering abortion, her personal testament (written with Henderson, who teaches at the University of Washington School of Communications) begins with her 12 years of rigid Catholic schooling in rural New Hampshire followed by the ordeal of Harvard Medical School, where her classmates disdained her choice of family medicine over a lucrative specialty. She also discusses her own abortion while an intern in Seattle. Poppema believes that wide availability of abortion would alleviate misery by preventing unwanted children and helping poor women break out of the cycle of poverty. She describes in clear detail the counseling of patients and how abortions are performed, and discusses her clinic's trials with the drug mifepristone (brand name RU 486), the French abortion pill, which she hopes will become easily available in the U.S.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

When Poppema told her parents she was interested in medicine and might be a nurse, why not, they asked, be a doctor? She took her M.D. at Harvard and residency in family medicine. After several years dividing her time between regular family practice and an abortion clinic (her understanding of women seeking abortions was enhanced by her own abortion and miscarriage), she bought a clinic north of Seattle, where she has practiced nine years. Most of the clinic's abortions are by suction; Poppema has experimented with RU 486 (the "abortion pill" ) but feels it will be found very useful only in early abortions. Although the clinic's surroundings mitigate against antiabortion protests, Poppema has, in the wake of the well-publicized shootings and killings at other clinics, felt it necessary to buy a bulletproof vest. She has performed some 20,000 abortions, mainly, she says, to prevent the arrival of unwanted children and to lessen social misery. She also devotes much time to educating women about their bodies and choices. William Beatty

Product Details

• Hardcover: 266 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; 1 edition (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573920452
• ISBN-13: 978-1573920452
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,558,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars as a personal patient, humanist and abortion healthcare assistant/educator, February 16, 2006

By 

E. Pendergrass "BethandJim" (Sammamish) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Why I Am an Abortion Doctor (Hardcover)

I grew up in a staunchly pro-life, baptist household. When I found myself acccidently pregnant at 17 and living on my own, without the support of my family - I felt completely isolated and lost. I even considered suicide. My desicion to have an abortion almost 10 years ago was the single most loving, caring and thoughful thing I had ever done for myself and I have not regretted it once. Having had my abortion performed by Dr. Poppema herself, I read her book and felt immediately connected to the pro-choice cause. I am now a nurse and health educator at a local abortion clinic, I have a beautiful 5 year old daughter by choice and a loving, supportive marriage. I owe the life that I have built, the career that I have chosen and love, the family that I've created and the person I am today to Dr. Suzanne Poppema and her staff who empowered me to make a choice.

28 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Personal Look at the Issue of Reproductive Rights, March 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Why I Am an Abortion Doctor (Hardcover)

American women are at a real crossroads as far as their reproductive rights are concerned. The historic Roe v. Wade decision of the early 1970s could actually be overturned in the next few years if Texas Governor George W. Bush is elected President. Bush would likely have to make several appointments to the Supreme Court, enough in all probability to overturn Roe v. Wade, given the current balance on the Court. Despite his reassurance that he will not attach a pro-life litmus test to his appointments, it is almost certain that his Supreme Court nominees would vote to overturn Roe.

Despite the fact that the right of women to choose an abortion is in peril, there is little consciousness of this fact in American society. Suzanne T. Poppema's book, Why I Am An Abortion Doctor, provides an exceptionally timely wake up call on the subject.

In her book, Dr. Poppema tells the fascinating story of how she rebelled against her family background and the school she attended, and became a committed feminist who rejected the paternalistic notion that the state should be able to govern women when it comes to matters of reproduction. She relates how she trained to become an abortion doctor and what it is like to run a clinic in an era when the anti-choice movement contains a fringe which is committed to taking violent, even lethal action to stop abortions. Dr. Poppema drives to work each day wearing a bullet proof vest. She has to deal with all of the barriers placed in the way of abortion clinics in American society today.

Her book eloquently tells the stories of women who choose to have abortions, because of their marital or financial circumstances, or for other reasons. The real life stories of women who have made the choice to terminate a pregnancy is a very useful antidote to the hateful propaganda which so often dominates the discussion.

Dr. Poppema explains how RU 486---the so-called abortion drug, developed in Europe---holds out the promise of replacing surgical abortions with this alternative, which is now widely available in France, and has been tried on an expermental basis in the United States.

Why I Am An Abortion Doctor is well written, absorbing and to the point on an issue that is bound to gain even greater prominence between now and election day in November.

2 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading in my attempt to understand the pro-choice position, November 23, 2009

By 

Sarah Caprye - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Why I Am an Abortion Doctor (Hardcover)

As a pro-life woman, I disagree wholeheartedly with Dr. Poppema's stance on abortion and many of her conclusions about women's rights. I find many of her statement and descriptions throughout the book appalling. Nevertheless, this book was worth reading for the purpose of hearing a first-hand account of perspective from the "other side" of the issue. My rating does not in any way reflect approval for the philosophies it embraces, or the actions it attempts to justify. But as a resource in seeking understanding of the debate, it has its place.

I wonder, in light of the changes in the political and social landscape over the last decade, if any of Dr. Poppema's impressions of the "antichoice" movement have changed. Does she still see pro-lifers as mainly middle-aged white males motivated by personal interests? Does she still believe pro-life women are weak and repressed by patriarchy? Her depiction of the pro-life side of the issue bears no resemblance to the reality that I know as a pro-life advocate.