A Woman's Life Is a Human Life

Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, historian Felicia Kornbluh delivers an urgent book about two key reproductive rights victories in New York that set the tone for the nation. A Woman's Life Is a Human Life is the story of two movements that transformed the politics of reproductive rights: the fight to decriminalize abortion and the campaign against sterilization abuse, which happened disproportionately in communities of color. Their victories occurred just before and after the Roe v. Wade decision, and their histories cast new light on the case and the fate of reproductive choice today. From dissident Democrats who were first to try reforming abortion laws, to clergy leading the nation's largest abortion referral service, to Puerto Rican activists who introduced sterilization abuse to the reproductive rights agenda, and Black women who took the cause global, A Woman's Life Is a Human Life chronicles the diverse ways activists changed the law and demanded reproductive justice. With firsthand accounts and previously unseen sources--including from her mother, who drafted New York's law decriminalizing abortion, and their across-the-hall neighbor, Dr. Helen Rodrâiguez-Trâias, a Puerto Rican doctor and leader in the movementagainst sterilization abuse--Felicia Kornbluh shows how grassroots action overcame the odds--and how it might work today--