Life Itself - Softcover

Rosenblatt, Roger

3.3

10 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0679743731 ISBN 13: 9780679743736

Publisher: Vintage, 1993

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After exploring the four-thousand-year history of abortion and showing why the conflict has become so entrenched in this society, a distinguished journalist offers a simple yet probable resolution to the problem. Reprint.

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From Kirkus Reviews:

Life's editor-at-large Rosenblatt (Children of War, 1983) calls for a cease-fire in America's battle over abortion, brilliantly drawing up a resolution that tolerates this ``imponderable, agonizing and fundamentally ambiguous element in our national life.'' Rosenblatt argues that our politicized pro-choice/pro-life schism came about because of Roe v. Wade's ``misidentification of abortion as purely a rights issue.'' In fact, he says, it is far more complicated, filled with grief and shame and ultimately without any clear-cut solution. Americans, the author argues, are finally ready to accept abortion as the ``irreconcilable problem'' that it is. Most, he writes, think ``abortion must be preserved as an option. Most of these same Americans also dread the practice of abortion.'' (According to polls cited here, 73% favor ``abortion rights,'' yet 77% see abortion as a form of murder.) Speaking with the logic, clarity, and compassion necessary for public discussion of this most private and difficult subject, Rosenblatt argues for a formula of ``permit, but discourage,'' setting his argument in a far-reaching historical context. Looking at laws and practices from Sumeria, Greece, and Rome to those of Hindus, Jews, Christians, etc., he shows that a civilization's handling of abortion always has depended upon its particular character. And never have the questions of when life begins or what justifies abortion been resolved. Rosenblatt traces America's moral struggle with abortion to our Puritan heritage, our individualism, and ``our preoccupation with evil, our dogged middle-classness, especially as regards sexuality and the role of women.'' Finally, the state of Iowa serves him as a model in which people are ``pro-choice with the sort of reservations that humanize the issue.'' A profound book, daring to lift the issue of abortion out of the political mire to a higher humanistic plain. Rosenblatt's ``permit, but discourage'' resolution seems not only possibly workable, but holds the promise that we might address the causes of societal ``collapse'' and not the fallout. -- Copyright �1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal:

Most polls report that the majority of Americans support the right of a woman to choose an abortion. Why then is this issue tearing our country apart, columnist Rosenblatt wonders. He traces the sociological history of abortion and cites depth of religious feeling and lack of consensus in the United States as factors contributing to our particularly divisive struggle. Rosenblatt feels that living in a democracy means tolerating ideas and practices we may not agree with. If pro-life and pro-choice activists will admit this, they can stop shouting at each other, admit the ambivalencies almost everyone feels about abortion, and begin a real dialog. Perhaps then a "permit but discourage" policy, which Rosenblatt feels is what most of the country wants, could be implemented. A unique and sane slant on the abortion question, and a worthwhile acquisition for all libraries in this election year. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/91; see also Sue Hertz's Caught in the Crossfire: A Year on Abortion's Front Line , LJ 10/1/91.
- Linda Knaack, Univ. of Lowell Libs., Mass.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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