Robin Marty and Jessica Mason Pieklo do a great job of detailing the efforts to turn back Roe versus Wade bit by bit, state by state. As a matter of principle, I must disclose that Robin Marty is a friend. I was aware of the effort she put into this book with her co-author and I am well pleased with the result. Each chapter covers one issue and one state, giving you insight into the personalities and political realities of that state. Starting in Nebraska with the efforts to pass a 'fetal pain' bill in 2010. This chapter shows how subtle changes in Supreme Court opinions coupled with the specific aims and personalities of the anti-abortion movement came together to try to craft legislation that could challenge Roe. This legislation was also directed at a particular provider in Nebraska that was the only provider of late term abortions after the murder of Dr. George Tiller.
Each chapter tells the story of a particular kind of legislation in a particular state. We get to understand how the opponents of abortion in each of these states are seeking their own method to achieve the holy grail of overturning Roe versus Wade. The story proceeds in chronological order with chapter two covering Ohio's heartbeat ban bills, and three Wisconsin's effort to ban medication abortions and so forth. Although the chapters are brief (10 to 20 pages), they are enough to explain how we have gotten to a position where many states have making abortion inaccessible the number one priority of their legislatures.
The book does a great job of making complex issues understandable yet it gives a greater depth than one would get from the day to day reporting even for someone who follows these issues. This is particularly true and heartbreaking in the stories of two women who each get a chapter in the middle of the book. Each faced creative prosecutors who sought to charge them with murder. One of the women was distraught when her lover left her because of her pregnancy. She attempted suicide. Doctors were able to save her, but not her pregnancy. She was charged under the state's 'feticide' law which was intended to increase punishments of crimes against pregnant women that cause the end of the woman's pregnancy. In spite of numerous mistakes and misjudgments, the prosecutor would not relent and held her in jail with no access to bail for months charged with murder.
I highly recommend the book if someone is seeking to understand the issue's changing dimensions at this time. It is told economically yet with enough human depth to allow the reader to make a connection with the people at the heart of this story.
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