Abortion opponents say women seek abortions in haste and confusion. Pro-choicers reply: Abortion is the most difficult, agonizing decision a woman ever makes.
Katha Pollitt
Related Since 'Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights' came out, I've done a fair amount of public spea... KATHA POLLITT Women who have abortions are people you know. Because that is the truth! One in three American women... KATHA POLLITT However much I dislike the idea of abortion, you should not criminalize a woman who, in very difficu... TONY BLAIR Most Americans probably have no idea how hostile anti-abortion sidewalk counseling outside clinics c... KATHA POLLITT I have always believed that the decision to have an abortion generally should be between a woman, he... BILL CLINTON I believe that this is one of the most exciting state initiatives for the pro-life movement for the ... FRANK PAVONE I am opposed to abortion and to government funding of abortions. BILL CLINTON The reality of abortion isn't political at all. Women don't come in here and say, 'I want to exercis... CLAIRE KEYES The fact that their public support of abortion is seemingly going unchallenged is a cause of great s... JUDIE BROWN Rod Blagojevich is the most pro-abortion governor the state has ever had, constantly doing the biddi... IRENE NAPIER There is a huge reservoir of support for abortion rights from ordinary women. I hear all the time fr... KATHA POLLITT There's a lot of centrism among the public about abortion. It's very easy for the activists to scare... ANDREW KOHUT I know many women that have had an abortion, and they regret it. Abortion is not good for women. JEAN NAPLES I could feel the baby being torn from my insides. It was really painful....Three-quarters of the way... RANDY ALCORN Too many people in America believe that if you are pro-choice that means pro-abortion. It doesn't. I... SENATOR JOHN KERRY I won't use abortion as a litmus test with a pro-choice individual. Someone that is an activist ... KEN BUCK The five pro-abortion public officials highlighting today's 20th anniversary luncheon for Emily's Li... JUDIE BROWN The five pro-abortion public officials highlighting today's 20th anniversary luncheon for Emily's Li... JUDIE BROWN The articles pertaining to abortion provide more conditions whereby women can get safe abortion serv... HEALTH MINSTER TEDROS ADHANOM For years, Richard Riordan funded the anti-abortion movement, supported anti-choice candidates and e... GRAY DAVIS You can't reconcile being pro-life on abortion and pro-death on the death penalty. N. T. WRIGHT Thirty-two years after the legalization of abortion by the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, the m... RICK SANTORUM This is the prescription given most in the United States. It helps a woman avoid an unintended pregn... JOANN SMITH I am pro-choice, but I don't consider that inconsistent at all with pro-life - there's no wa... RACHEL SKLAR My argument has always been that nature has a master plan pushing every species toward procreation a... CAMILLE PAGLIA Give that child to me. I want it. I will care for it. I am willing to accept any child who would be ... MOTHER TERESA It lends credibility to the law. You can be pro-choice and still be pro-parental notification. It's ... DAVID REYNOLDS I'm not being outspoken or pro or con abortion. BARBARA BUSH On this anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that forced abortion upon all 50 state... DAVID BEREIT This case was more about the scope of federal racketeering law than it was about abortions or aborti... ANDREW COHEN In my view, the pro-life movement at this point should focus on seeking to reduce the number of abor... DINESH D'SOUZA No woman has an abortion for fun. ELIZABETH JOAN SMITH No woman has an abortion for fun. JOAN SMITH I do not believe in abortion at will. I do not believe that if a woman just wants to have an abortio... NANCY REAGAN Abortion is a civil rights issue. The abortion industry targets minorities. Seventy-eight percent of... PAM FICHTER Too many people use abortion as a form of birth control. And that's very wrong. I could never, ever ... BROOKE SHIELDS [That the gruesome surgical procedure opponents called] partial birth abortion ... the calculated ki... RICK SANTORUM Certainly, there is a strategic element to it. On the other hand, the purpose of the clergy is to he... FRANCES KISSLING The bill is an attempt to make sure that women are given helpful information on the alternatives to ... BOB BROOKS The absence of pain in the fetus doesn't resolve the morality of abortion, but does argue against le... STUART DERBYSHIRE This deceptive and extreme measure sacrifices women's health in the name of a broad anti-choice agen... LOUISE MELLING I am troubled by the assumption in the legislation that abortion services, as a matter of linguistic... WENDY KAMINER He had heard her say, so many times, that a society that approved of making abortion illegal was a s... JOHN IRVING Women in the western side of the state don't think about abortion until they need to, and then they'... KATE LOOBY Too many people use abortion as a form of birth control. And that's very wrong. I could never, e... BROOKE SHIELDS I believe we do a disservice to God and probably to the pro-life cause if God is never mentioned in ... GEORGE CARDINAL PELL Possibly, the root of my reaction against abortion is one of self-interest and of self-identificatio... KATHRYN REED ...don't kid yourself. Keep the baby - I have no other advice for you. Children are the best thing i... ELVIRA BARYAKINA The abortion industry can try to improve its 'messaging' all it wants. But unless abortion a... GARY BAUER Planned Parenthood is a pretty popular organization. Way more popular than Congress! It claims that ... KATHA POLLITT I could never, ever have an abortion. BROOKE SHIELDS Abortion opponents know full well that the public would not abide putting women in prison en masse. ... KATHA POLLITT It is truly surprising that the state must assign a greater value to a mother's decision to cut off ... WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST We certainly welcome the decision because it reaffirms [that] abortion laws have to include exceptio... LOUISE MELLING Are not Pro-Choice adherents really just Anti-Contraceptives, seeking pleasure over prudence? Are no... JON CHRISTOPHER GARLAND I'm pro-choice. But I hope that choice will be life. RUSH LIMBAUGH Let's take on the most complicated, difficult problem that we could possibly take on in contemporary... IAN BOGOST Pro-lifers have long been castigated for bringing private values into the public square. But actuall... NANCY PEARCEY People who are pro-abortion care more about the future of their child and less about the conceived e... HASIB SHAHRIAR AZIZI I'm against abortion. On the other hand, I believe in a woman's choice. NANCY REAGAN No woman wants an abortion as she wants an ice cream cone or a Porsche. She wants an abortion as a... FREDERICA MATHEWES-GREEN We have some of the most stringent abortion laws in the country. GINNY COPENHEFER [The dichotomy in the courts' treatment of abortion and embryos could change the approach of fathers... MICHAEL MCCORMICK But Pescatore wasn’t leading a seminar on the morality of abortion. She wanted the jury to focus o... ANN MCELHINNEY On behalf of NARAL Pro-Choice America - and our one million member activists - I am honored to be he... NANCY KEENAN The most powerful and least divisive way to decrease abortion is to reduce unintended pregnancy. If ... SARAH BROWN I'm definitely pro-life; I don't really parallel that with my feminist approach or whatever. I think... BRANDI PERL While Texas women have the right to safe, legal abortion, in reality there are already very few faci... WENDY DAVIS Adoption was such a positive alternative to abortion, a way to save one life and brighten two more: ... GEORGE W. BUSH No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body. MARGARET SANGER No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mo... MARGARET SANGER We've consistently seen, since the late 1990s, that more than half of women believe that abortion sh... FAYE WATTLETON The women of South Dakota will still be able to access safe and legal abortion as this case works it... KATE LOOBY Stoutly pro-tax-cut and libertarian on social issues like abortion, Trump is a Republican with the b... ROGER STONE I leave abortion to the woman. I just fundamentally end there. I absolutely support a woman's ri... GARY JOHNSON Anytime a pro-abortion, big-government, elitist liberal is considering a run for the United States S... CHRISTIAN WINTHROP Today's decision tells politicians that they cannot jeopardize women's health when they pass abortio... JENNIFER DALVEN Many progressives understand Scalia, and other conservative judges, in crassly political terms - as ... CASS SUNSTEIN I can't find anything in the Constitution that says you prefer the life of the mother, or the co... ALAN DERSHOWITZ We have all these politicians that claim they're pro-life and that say women should not be able ... REMY MA In the case of abortion, one pits the life of the fetus against the interests of the pregnant woman. LEON KASS We will not tolerate the FDA's decision to approve the destruction of innocent human persons through... JUDIE BROWN The premier defining issue of conservative Republicans in this state revolves around family value is... PAUL MERO Abortion is a question of choice. ROBERT CASEY Abortion is not health care. A woman has a right to her body, but that is not her body. What about t... ALVEDA KING To a great extent, Giuliani is still St. Rudy. He's still riding high on 9/11, though when it comes ... DOUG MUZZIO I want a future abortion conversation known for its openness, respect and empathy, so instead of gen... ASPEN BAKER It would be very difficult ... for me to vote to confirm someone whom I knew would overturn Roe v. W... DIANE FEINSTEIN I don't believe an Alliance government should sponsor legislation on abortion or a referendum on abo... STEPHEN HARPER Rather than dull our consciences to the unmitigated violence of abortion, the passage of time has on... CHRIS SMITH I think we have deluded ourselves into believing that people don't know that abortion is killing. So... FAYE WATTLETON We will never see a day when women of means are not able to get a safe abortion in this country. RUTH BADER GINSBURG I believe every abortion is a tragedy. DIANE ABBOTT If we lived in a culture that valued women's autonomy and in which men and women practiced cooperati... CHRISTIANE NORTHRUP I think abortion is murder. VICTORIA JACKSON Earlier feminists were almost universally pro-choice and have dominated political debate until now. ... KATHLEEN PARKER Abortion is a skillfully marketed product sold to women at a crisis time in their life. If the produ... CAROL EVERTT beholden to the most radical elements of the Democratic Party that says abortion on demand is OK. BRIAN JOHNSTON If every woman who's had an abortion took tomorrow off in protest, America would grind to a halt... CAITLIN MORAN I don't believe an Alliance government should sponsor legislation on abortion or a referendum on... STEPHEN HARPER
More Katha Pollitt
There is a huge reservoir of support for abortion rights from ordinary women. I hear all the time fr... KATHA POLLITT Everyone will be happier if fewer women are tied to abusive men, drop out of school, and live impove... KATHA POLLITT Opposition to abortion was one of the ways the Christian right was brought into the Republican Party... KATHA POLLITT The notion that female initiative is useless because men know what they want is particularly odd - m... KATHA POLLITT Sure, men like a challenge - but so do women. And nobody likes to be challenged all the time. I know... KATHA POLLITT Here is the dirty little secret about anti-abortion violence: It works. KATHA POLLITT We need to say that women have sex, have abortions, are at peace with the decision, and move on with... KATHA POLLITT Abortion opponents know full well that the public would not abide putting women in prison en masse. ... KATHA POLLITT We do not have the idea that all children are valuable parts of society. We only have the idea that ... KATHA POLLITT Since 'Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights' came out, I've done a fair amount of public spea... KATHA POLLITT Women have to control their fertility for 30 years. Thirty years is a long time not to make mistakes... KATHA POLLITT My mother had an illegal abortion in 1960, which was the year the birth control pill came out, but I... KATHA POLLITT It's a rare pro-lifer who is against the death penalty, who's against all war, who favors, y... KATHA POLLITT I think women have the right to consult their own wishes, needs, and capacities and produce only lov... KATHA POLLITT I think the meaning of abortion is what the woman says it is: For a woman who wants a child but can&... KATHA POLLITT Do men drop out of college because they get someone pregnant? Do they quit their job if they get som... KATHA POLLITT Women who have abortions are people you know. Because that is the truth! One in three American women... KATHA POLLITT In our culture, the shame about accidental pregnancy is inextricable from the shame about having had... KATHA POLLITT Planned Parenthood is a pretty popular organization. Way more popular than Congress! It claims that ... KATHA POLLITT Abortion is part of being a mother and of caring for children, because part of caring for children i... KATHA POLLITT If you have been vaccinated for polio, mumps, measles, chicken pox, hepatitis, or rabies, it may be ... KATHA POLLITT Most Americans probably have no idea how hostile anti-abortion sidewalk counseling outside clinics c... KATHA POLLITT A potential person is not a person, any more than an acorn is an oak tree. I don't think women s... KATHA POLLITT In the end, abortion is an issue of fundamental human rights. To force women to undergo pregnancy an... KATHA POLLITT Ariel may look a lot like Barbie, and her adventure may be limited to romance and over with the wedd... KATHA POLLITT She's very brave the way she tackles this in the book. She's been given a lot of flak from the right... KATHA POLLITT We have an idea that the man should help pay for the child. But we don't have a law that says a ... KATHA POLLITT What is here is also there; what is there, is also here. Who sees multiplicity but not the one indiv... KATHA UPANISHAD Know one, know all. KATHA UPANISHAD The self-existent Lord pierced the senses to turn outward. Thus we look to the world outside and see... KATHA UPANISHAD As pure water poured into pure water becomes the very same, so does the Self of the illumined man or... KATHA UPANISHAD Know the Self as Lord of the chariot, the body as the chariot itself, the discriminating intellect a... KATHA UPANISHAD