A compelling history of one of the twentieth century's most unusual religious endeavors--American Christian and Jewish clergy who directed women to safe abortions before the Roe v. Wade decision made legal abortion widely available.

Abortion Compassion by Jim Hollingsworth __________________________________

You’re pro-life. But can you explain why? You already believe in choosing life. But when the counterarguments are coming at you from every angle—legal, biological, medical, ethical, moral, philosophical, and biblical—how do you defend the pro-life view? And as you defend it . . . how do you speak with wisdom, humility, and compassion? Now more than ever, the times call for a balance of truth and mercy. There are good, wise, and thoughtful rebuttals of every claim made by pro-abortion advocates. Collected here in one place, Choose Life offers you reasonable responses from leading experts in their respective fields. The authors are accomplished women and men from all walks of life. They’ll help you know what to say—and why to say it—when you’re faced with claims like: “The courts have already settled the issue.” “The fetus is not a person.” “My body, my choice.” “I shouldn’t have to raise an unwanted child.” “My circumstances justify ending my pregnancy.” “Abortions are helpful to women and society.” “The pro-life movement doesn’t care about social justice.” It’s time to set aside the strident fist-shaking and hurled insults. Learn to make the pro-life case with intelligent arguments and compassionate love—just the way a Christian should.

An author and professor presents the objective logical arguments against abortion; the subjective, personal motives of the pro-life position; and how these two factors influence the dialog between the two sides of the abortion issue.

Focus on Abortion: Americans Share Their Storiesintroduces the often-missing and most important voices in the abortion conversation: the voices of those who have experienced abortion. This projectprovides a platform for these voices to be heard. Sixty-two individuals are featured. They have had an abortion or are close to the abortion experience, including partners, friends, relatives, counselors, and professionals who provide abortion care. Each person is represented by a photographic portrait and a first-person narrative. The storytellers come from diverse socio-economic backgrounds and generations. They live in urban, suburban and rural areas throughout America. Together they will provide a broad, complex and poignant picture of abortion in our country. These nuanced stories have the potential to mitigate the profound stigma that surrounds abortion. Few people talk about their abortions so many will be surprised to learn that one out of four women in the US will have an abortion during their reproductive years. These narratives touch on the complex circumstances leading up to the decision to end a pregnancy, the person's ability to access healthcare, and life after having had an abortion. Most importantly, these stories have the potential to widen public understanding of abortion. We learned from the Civil Rights and Gay Rights movements that deep-seated beliefs can evolve once people give voice to their personal stories.

In today’s contentious political environment surrounding abortion, clinicians, counselors and social workers need a clear framework for providing skilled, compassionate decision counseling. They need help working with the hard stuff: “What do I do when my patient asks me if God will forgive her?” or “What do I say when a woman says that she feels like she’s killing her baby?” These are the questions asked by clinicians and mental health professionals everywhere; these are also the questions for which this book offers answers. The fields of healthcare and counseling psychology have long-awaited a manual for conducting pregnancy decision counseling across the spectrum of patient issues, employee skill levels, and clinic resources. Using case examples, individual and group exercises, guided self-reflection, and values clarification, the reader will develop the necessary skills to provide compassionate and informed pregnancy decision counseling. This book will define the gold standard for decision assessment and counseling for all pregnancy options and will be cited as the definitive guide for learning, teaching, and providing high-quality, compassionate counseling in abortion and family planning clinics nationwide.

Until the late 1960s, the authorities on abortion were for the most part men—politicians, clergy, lawyers, physicians, all of whom had an interest in regulating women’s bodies. Even today, when we hear women speak publicly about abortion, the voices are usually those of the leaders of women’s and abortion rights organizations, women who hold political office, and, on occasion, female physicians. We also hear quite frequently from spokeswomen for anti-abortion groups. Rarely, however, do we hear the voices of ordinary women—women whose lives have been in some way touched by abortion. Their thoughts typically owe more to human circumstance than to ideology, and without them, we run the risk of thinking and talking about the issue of abortion only in the abstract. Without Apology seeks to address this issue by gathering the voices of activists, feminists, and scholars as well as abortion providers and clinic support staff alongside the stories of women whose experience with abortion is more personal. With the particular aim of moving beyond the polarizing rhetoric that has characterized the issue of abortion and reproductive justice for so long, Without Apology is an engrossing and arresting account that will promote both reflection and discussion.