The War on Choice : The Right-Wing Attack on Women's Rights and How to Fight Back

Rating:
Summary: Not Just a Woman's Issue
Review: I'm a liberal-leaning guy so I've always prided myself
on my sensitivity to women's issues and my
understanding of the importance of women's rights. But
even so, Gloria Feldt's book The War on Choice was an
eye-opener. No matter how much you think you know,
it's hard to get the bird's eye perspective you really
need to understand the extent of the attacks on
reproductive rights that are happening today. This
book will give you that view. Feldt covers everything
from AIDS to birth control to abortion to the Supreme
Court and the legal definition of personhood, and she
paints a chilling but compelling portrait of the
threats being posed to everyone's rights, reproductive
and otherwise. The corruption of science with narrow
ideology and the right-wing's disregard for personal
privacy are only a few of the dangers facing each of
us that we should all be working to combat - and
Feldt's book can show us where to start.

Rating:
Summary: Feldt's War
Review: In Feldt's book,The War on Choice,she tries to make the claim that abortion foes want to make women powerless,and "turn back the clock".This is so laughable.Men benefit greatly by women being strong and equal,and they know it.This is a very good fear tactic though,and I guess Feldt decided to employ it in the hope that some women will buy it.Feldt claims that women's economic,social,and political lives depend on abortion.Well,I can think of one woman's economic life depending on it. Feldt makes over $400,000 a year from the deaths of babies.

Rating:
Summary: A Man's Perspective
Review: Until recently I never paid that much attention to
reproductive rights. I knew that I was pro-choice, and
I was lucky enough to attend a private high school
that offered real sex-ed (including information on
contraception and STDs) and not just abstinence-only
classes. But The War on Choice demonstrated for me
that reproductive rights aren't just about women -
they are about men too, both as women's partners and
in their own right. While issues like abortion may be
more relevant to women, although they affect men as
well of course, things like medical privacy are
equally important no matter what your gender. Any man
who thinks that because he's male he doesn't have to
worry about his reproductive rights should read this
book and think again.

Rating:
Summary: Educational reading
Review: Very informative and educational; excellent research.
I give it a 4/5, though, just because its a bit too dry. But I would still recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: War on Choice
Review: War on Choice most of all reveals the crack in the dam that is about to break on Planned Parenthood.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Set of Issues in Need of Charisma
Review: While The War on Choice alerts us to the determined and highly organized threat to reproductive freedom for women -- and for men -- it needs to rise to the level of war it reports. Only 39 pages in the chapter "Fighting Forward" point the political direction for Pro-Choice citizens.
The book is another example of why Pro-Choice activists are losing the media war. The greatest weakness of the book is that it only describes the enemy. It fails to put a human face on the tragedies of women and families who face tragedy without help. How does Tay-Sachs disease affect a family? What about a 12-year-old impregnated by a family member or step father? The anti-choice movement gains "moral" ground despite the fact that their advocates bomb clinics, assassinate providers, and rape a 15-year-old girl (e.g., John Burt in Florida)? The author and other Pro-Choice activists need to develop the emotional hooks and popular language that will attract those who haven't given, and won't ever give, much thought to the issues. Feldt needs to realize that the war is a public relations war, not just a political one.
I recommend a companion book, if you can find it, by John M. Swomley, Jr., "Compulsory Pregnancy: The War Against American Women."

Rating:
Summary: A Great Set of Issues in Need of Charisma
Review: While The War on Choice alerts us to the determined and highly organized threat to reproductive freedom for women -- and for men -- it needs to rise to the level of war it reports. Only 39 pages in the chapter "Fighting Forward" point the political direction for Pro-Choice citizens.
The book is another example of why Pro-Choice activists are losing the media war. The greatest weakness of the book is that it only describes the enemy. It fails to put a human face on the tragedies of women and families who face tragedy without help. How does Tay-Sachs disease affect a family? What about a 12-year-old impregnated by a family member or step father? The anti-choice movement gains "moral" ground despite the fact that their advocates bomb clinics, assassinate providers, and rape a 15-year-old girl (e.g., John Burt in Florida)? The author and other Pro-Choice activists need to develop the emotional hooks and popular language that will attract those who haven't given, and won't ever give, much thought to the issues. Feldt needs to realize that the war is a public relations war, not just a political one.
I recommend a companion book, if you can find it, by John M. Swomley, Jr., "Compulsory Pregnancy: The War Against American Women."

Rating:
Summary: Don't Read it at Night
Review: You'll be too angry to sleep. This is the book that made me politically active, because it's an attention-grabbing depiction of the threats to our freedom. The "War on Choice" isn't just about preventing abortion, or even outlawing it; it's about denying women their freedom as citizens.

Everyone should read this book. I have always sympathized with the anti-abortion movement, but now I'm emphatically convinced that "against abortion" doesn't need to mean "against choice," and that it's necessary to fight attempts to equate those two sentiments.