Overall, this book intensified my belief that the pro-choice movement has had a positive impact on society as whole while also guaranteeing women the right to their own bodies. Nonetheless, Page's consistently strong and intelligent argument are occasionally marred by her tendency to ignore the nuances of the pro-life movement. It seems that, at times, a more fitting title of the book would have been How the Pro-Life Movement Destroyed America-- Page sometimes seems a little too intent on cruelly bashing her opposition rather than showing why her own position is correct. On more than one occasion, Page allows the reader to believe that every pro-life activist is a devout right-winger who is a strong subscriber to a fundamentalist religion. Clearly this is not true, and by giving the reader the illusion that this fallacy is fact, Page makes her job a bit too easy.
My reservations about her style of argumentation aside, she offers astute and original points that are rarely considered in the arena of abortion. These considerations include the effect abortion has on poverty on both the global and domestic scales, the eradication of abortion leading to dangerous self-abuse, and the effect the opportunity for abortion has had on marriage satisfaction. Above all else, Cristina Page makes sure to reiterate that outlawing abortion does not fulfill pro-life activists' supposed ultimate goal: to decrease the number of abortions.
Kimberly,
ReplyDeleteI agree that Page spends a little too much time "bashing" the pro-life side, and i'm curious whether or not you think that is a useful technique or a turn off to most readers. In my opinion, I was turned off by the way she misrepresented the pro-life campaign on many occasions and feel she could have done a better job allowing the reader to see for his or herself the "bad" actions that the pro-life campaign has taken by using show, not tell writing.