Abortion in the Age of Unreason

Those who devote their careers, even their lives, to advancing reproductive self-determination are often characterized, even caricaturized, as devoid of basic human compassion. None have been more vilified than Warren Hern. Nevertheless, his enduring and unyielding service, on the front lines of one of the most intense social, political, ethnic and economic conflicts in American history, is undaunted by his personal vulnerability and often professional isolation. Warren's revelations unveil the foundation and fiber on which he has amassed admiration as a public health visionary and medical practitioner. The most powerful lessons are the insights gained from his human journey, a path lighted by exceptional life experiences and undaunted determination not to return women to the dangers and injustices of 17th Century servitude. Faye Wattleton, President/CEO, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, 1978–1992 There is no one in the United States who knows more about abortion practice and politics than Dr. Warren Hern. And there is no one who writes more cogently and trenchantly about these matters. Dr. Hern has lived through and in the midst of every phase of the abortion wars, building a unique practice and dedicating his life to (and risking it for) what he believes in. Remarkably, Dr. Hern has the fortitude, the focus, and the capacity to write about abortion politics with special insight, clarity, and style. Rickie Solinger, author of Pregnancy and Power: A History of Reproductive Politics in the U.S. (2019, rev. ed.) and Reproductive Justice: An Introduction (2017) Reasons to publish Warren Hern’s book – or anything he writes: Dr. Hern wears a bullet-proof vest to work because he is one of the last medical practitioners of the last line of skilled help and healing for women whose lives and pregnancies are in danger. You will also find him testifying in the U.S. Congress, the United Nations, the World Health Organization and many other influential places about women’s health and the scary politics of reproduction. Now, more than ever, we need his voice, his compassionate stories, and his political analyses from the front of the great debate over reproductive health for women. Martha Ward, author of Poor Women, Powerful Men: America’s Great Experiment in Family Planning; Professor of Anthropology, University of New Orleans For sixty years, Dr. Warren Hern has stood in the front lines of the battle for women's reproductive health care, one abortion patient at a time. His passionate commitment and medical skill make him a beacon of hope for women with nowhere else to turn, and he has never shied away from confronting the hypocrisy and cruelty of those would deny women and their doctors the right that the Supreme Court once recognized. This book is his story, a testament to his courage and to the knowledge acquired through a lifetime of activism. Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer Prize in Journalism, 1998; Author, New York Times reporter and columnist; Co-author of Before Roe v. Wade: Voices that Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court's Ruling This lively and well-written book has much to offer those who are interested in the history and evolution of abortion care in the United States and elsewhere. Dr. Hern takes the reader into the early struggles within the medical community over how to incorporate this essential – albeit controversial – service. Also, the author was among the first in abortion providing circles to recognize the threat to reproductive freedom posed by the emerging religious right and he shares his astute observations of the damage that continues to be done to this day by that movement. Carole Joffe, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, co-author, Obstacle Course: The Everyday Struggle to Get an Abortion in America ""No single American has more totally lived through this country’s unending struggle for the availability of safe, legal abortions than Dr. Warren M. Hern. While several of his close professional colleagues have been shot dead by political assassins, Warren Hern has both survived and continued, operating what is without question America’s most important reproductive health facility for late term abortions. What’s more, Warren has also quietly led an absolutely fascinating ‘second life’ as an anthropologist and photographer who has studied and published professionally on some of South America’s most remarkable indigenous peoples. In a life that has allowed me to meet countless memorable people, ranging from Hubert Humphrey and George McGovern through Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama, no human being has ever impressed me more than Warren Hern."" David J. Garrow, author of Liberty and Sexuality: The Right to Privacy and the Making of Roe v. Wade (1998) and Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1986), Pulitzer Prize for Biography, 1987