Review
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“Katha Pollitt's brilliant new book, Pro: Recling
Rights, arrives like an urgent letter as rights are fast
eroding….With Pollitt's characteristic wit and logic, Pro
marshals science, history, medicine, religion, statistics and
stories of real women's lives--with all the ‘tangled secret
misfortunes' of families--to make a myth-busting argument that
is a social good. It's good for women. It's good for
children. It's good for men. It's a normal fact of life and has
been since ancient times. All of which might sound shocking, so
rarely do we hear about 's benefits.” ―Kate Manning, Time
“Enraging...Pollitt's exploration of the hypocrisy of
nents...is so witheringly encyclopedic it will be an eye
opener for those who have never darkened the door of a women's
studies classroom....Pro may succeed best at galvanizing
complacent pro-choicers....Motherhood is hard enough if you go
into it willingly. And Pollitt is correct to insist that the
right to an is merely society's down payment on all the
rights we are yet due.” ―The New York Times Book Review
“Pollitt's arguments force those who se reproductive rights
to show their true colors--and effectively parries the '
hurts women' nonsense.” ―Jessica Valenti, The Guardian (UK)
“[This] shouldn't be a radical message, but in an era when some
feminists feel the need to defend the birth control pill by
highlighting its use for reasons other than contraception, the
very idea that we should insist that is a good thing
because it's good for women feels incredibly bold…. ‘No one is
pro-' is a common refrain among liberals defending the
right to choose. In the abstract, no, but if you need an
to live your life as you see fit, then pro- is exactly
what you are. Katha Pollitt has your back on this, and more
pro-choicers should embrace her unapologetic approach.” ―Ms.
Magazine
“[An] important, revelatory new book... Pollitt does an excellent
job of unpacking [the statistics] and showing the contradictions
in our views, as well as the limits to what surveys can tell us
about the decisions Americans make for themselves.” ―Laurie
Abraham, Elle
“A refreshing and comprehensive look at rights… Pro is a
passionate plea--and a book that is needed now more than ever.”
―Michele Filgate, Salon
“Katha Pollitt's Pro: Recling Rights is such an
important book.... Pollitt's fearlessness in exposing and
dismissing the misogynist kernel at the center of the issue makes
Pro the most fearlessly feminist book I've read in ages, a
genuine work of bravery and scholarship and discourse. Am I
gushing? You bet. You will be, too.” ―The Stranger
“A lucid and paassionate book.” ―Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com
“Throughout Pro, Pollitt maintains a moral clarity...Ultimately,
Pollitt is arguing not just for reproductive rights but for
reproductive justice, which places the right to mother, or not,
within the global context of human rights and social and economic
justice, inextricable from the fight for universal
insurance, immigration reform and a host of social challenges.
It's a holistic vision of a more just society that in her telling
is at once utterly reasonable and heartbreakingly elusive. It's
unlikely that Pro is going to change anyone's mind about
, but Pollitt's invigorating articulation of the web of
connections that could, someday, create a society concerned with
the well-being of all its citizens is reason enough for anyone
already on the bus to pick it up.” ―The Chicago Tribune
“[Pro is] a challenging, smart book, and it will change what you
think about and talk about when the topic of comes up.”
―Flavorwire
“Pollitt is at her best when she is passionately arguing for
women's right to control their own lives. Pro begins with a
fierce critique of the way the pro-choice infrastructure has
shied away from the word itself and has allowed the
anti- crowd to shape the discourse -- and to leave
pregnant people out of it entirely, focusing instead on those
endlessly lovable fetuses and their "right to life." It ends with
an equally powerful call to understand not as some
singular culture-war issue but as one part of a struggle for
women to be able to live full, complete lives, and for the
reproductive labor that is still done mostly by women to be
understood as something that benefits all of society and is
deserving of respect and (financial) support.” ―Refinery 29
“An impassioned, persuasive case for understanding [] in
its proper context…With wit and logic, Pollitt debunks the many
myths surrounding , and analyzes what nents
really se: namely, women's growing sexual freedom and
power….With arguments that are both lucid and sensible, Pollitt
successfully reframes the debate to show that, ‘in the
end, is an issue of fundamental human rights.'”
―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“In this powerful pro-choice treatise, Pollitt, the well-known
feminist, poet, and award-winning columnist for the Nation,
expertly lays out why she supports a woman's right to decide
whether to end a pregnancy.” ―Booklist (starred review)
“A dramatic, persuasive argument for …Bolstered by
dramatic statistics (‘excluding miriages, 21 percent of
pregnancies end in '), personal interviews, and
historical references reaching as far back as ancient Greece and
Egypt, Pollitt impressively makes her case while admitting that
clinics have become increasingly inaccessible and
certain ‘pronatalist pundits' are holding women's ly
private pregnancy decisions up for public scrutiny…Pollitt's
cogent opinion presents potent testimony on a woman's right to
choose.” ―Kirkus Reviews
“Pro-choice advocates will find Pollitt's summation helpful in
recruitment.” ―Library Journal
“Explosive.” ―Flavorwire "25 Must-Read Books for the Fall"
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About the Author
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Katha Pollitt, the author of Virginity or Death!, is a
poet, essayist, and columnist for The Nation. She has won many
prizes and awards for her work, including the National Book
Critics Award for her first collection of poems, Antarctic
Traveler, and two National Magazine Awards for Essays and
Criticism. She lives in New York City.
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