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Hayes, Leah – Not Funny Ha-Ha
Normally I avoid anything that could remotely be considered a spoiler in my reviews, but I’ll come right out and say it: this is a book about how to get an abortion. How to get one, how to figure out what type is best for you, how to best arrange transportation, what to realistically expect to deal with medically afterwards, how it’s normal to feel guilty after it’s done (or not feel guilty at all), etc. It is thorough, thoughtful, full of practical advice and completely free of judgement of any of the women making these decisions. It’s goddamned great, is what I’m saying, and this should be required reading for any women who can have kids, along with all the assholes who are trying to prevent women from being able to make these decisions, because maybe then they’d start to see these women as humans. I should make one other thing as clear as possible: this book is not intended for me! Granted, I learned a lot from it, and can now give some basic advice to women that I maybe couldn’t give before. But at the end of the day I’m a guy, and thus can’t get pregnant, so it’s never my call on whether or not somebody should get an abortion. So yes, this book is amazing and just about everybody should read it. That’s as clear as it could be, right? Good, because I have a couple of quibbles with it that I can’t resist mentioning. Let’s start with the most minor quibble: that cover. For a book that’s so open about being loud and proud about getting abortions and teaching everything that goes with it, maybe use the word on the cover? It’s clear on the back cover, and it’s easy enough to read through the lines, which is why it’s such a minor quibble on my part. My other quibble is a bit larger: nowhere in this book does it talk about the best strategies for dealing with the pro forced birth crowd. Oh, there are some bits of advice about volunteering to be one of the people who help escort women into Planned Parenthood through those throngs of assholes, which is sound and helpful advice. The trouble is that a lot of those assholes are elected officials now, and they’ve been chipping away at unfettered access to abortions for decades. So you can still technically get an abortion in every state, but bullshit health regulations have forced all but one clinic to close. Or the fact that some states force you to view an ultrasound of the fetus, no matter how tiny, and others will force you to wait for a legally mandated few days to “think about it.” This book does an excellent job of putting the reader in the place of someone who is considering an abortion and how hard the decision could be, but I wish there was a little space dedicated to how much harder it could be in those states, and some tips on how to overcome those obstacles. The likely answer is that there are no great answers for these women, which is depressing to think about. This is all me asking for the perfect abortion book all in one place, I know, but that’s why I get paid the big bucks to talk about comics (note: I get paid no bucks). Again, to be clear, I’m not trying to complain about a book that’s 95% perfect, I just wish there was more advice for the women with the misfortune to live in one of the shittier states. $16.99
