We Choose To: A Memoir of Providing Abortion Care Before, During, and After Roe

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Although the Dallas Fire Department had saved the clinic, we were shaken and heartsick that our son had just spent Christmas Day at a crime scene. I had performed my first abortion in the year Kyle was born, and though he had long supported our work, he now felt worried for us in ways he’d never expressed. As we stood near the ruins, breathing fresh air in gulps, he said, “Do you have to keep doing this work?”

We were both silent for long moments before I simply said, “No. We choose to.”

In this deeply personal account, Dr. Curtis Boyd and Dr. Glenna Halvorson-Boyd reflect on their lives in abortion care, from the childhood experiences that shaped their paths to the Supreme Court decision show more that forced the closure of their Dallas clinic. Their stories begin in the 1960s, as Curtis opens a clandestine abortion practice while breaking with the beliefs of his Baptist family and Glenna pursues psychology while coming to understand the world of restrictive gender roles. When the two of them meet shortly after abortion is legalized, they bond over a common commitment to women, forming a professional and personal partnership that will weather the coming decades. We Choose To is the story of that partnership, and the staff and patients that have shaped the history of modern abortion.

In these pages, Curtis and Glenna share their holistic, morally rooted approach to their work. Led by a desire to empower patients, they advance abortion and mental health care further than ever even as they find themselves at the center of a controversial new issue in American life. Sweeping, introspective, and deeply honest, We Choose To is a rare portrait of abortion providers and the world in which they work, where abortion is not a talking point in a culture war but a private, even spiritual, act.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: If you're wondering what kind of person is drawn to resist social injustice, read this joint memoir by two powerfully rooted in faith people. They set themselves out to provide care for women who were not being served in their time of need by any system allegedly meant to do so.

I'm strongly anti-religion because people like the authors are far too seldom to be found in the ranks of churchgoers. These people are exemplars of walking the walk while self-awarely not talking the most frquently heard talk from the faith they once shared.

I emerged from this read far more ready to smile about the world's future. These deeply admirable people have raised kids and lived lives of service and, by example, inspired others. What more can one ask?

Thank you both for sharing your motivations and reasons for being genuinely good. show less