Book Review: You’re the Only One I’ve Told: The Stories Behind Abortion by Dr Meera Shah

The Gist: An impactful and important nonfiction on the reproductive justice fight in the USA, told from the perspective of an abortion provider and patient experiences.

Series: Standalone

Release Date: September 1, 2020

Synopsis

At a time where reproductive rights are at risk, these vital stories of diverse individuals serve as a reminder of the importance of empathy, finding community and motivating advocacy

For a long time, when people asked Dr. Meera Shah, Chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, what she did, she would tell them she was a doctor and leave it at that. But when she started to be direct about her work as an abortion provider an interesting thing started to happen: one by one, people would confide that they’d had an abortion themselves. The refrain was often the same: You’re the only one I’ve told.

This book collects these stories as they’ve been told to Shah to humanize abortion and to combat myths that persist in the discourse that surrounds it. A wide range of ages, races, socioeconomic factors, and experiences shows that abortion always occurs in a unique context.

Today, a healthcare issue that’s so precious and foundational to reproductive, social, and economic freedom for millions of people is exploited by politicians who lack understanding or compassion about the context in which abortion occurs. Stories have the power to break down stigmas and help us to empathize with those whose experiences are unlike our own.

A portion of proceeds will be donated to promote reproductive health access.

Ending

Incredibly informative and inclusive. Ends with a chapter on Calls to Action that identifies how readers can participate in the fight for reproductive justice and reproductive healthcare access.

Representation

• Gender-inclusive language and approach to healthcare
• Written by a Gujarati Indian American author

Possible Triggers: Yes

• Abortion
• Racism
• Medical content
• Discussion of…
– miscarriage
– late-term pregnancy abortion
– grief
– parents deciding to end their pregnancy due to medical complications
– medical trauma
– r@pe
– child abuse
– gender-based violence abuse

Mature Themes:

• Sex is discussed
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Hardback

Rating: 5-stars

•••

I put off reading this book for a long time despite knowing it would be a 5-star read. It’s a hard-hitting topic that readers need to be in the right headspace to absorb (see Possible Triggers above). The content on reproductive justice is particularly relevant now, with the wave of abortion bans occurring in the USA. Even in Canada, some politicians have raised wanting to repeal abortion access from our Human Rights Charter.

You’re the Only One I’ve Told: the Stories Behind Abortions is impactful because it demystifies abortions. The book affirms that abortion is a medical procedure that should be contextualized within a healthcare framework rather than the moralizing typical of most abortion conversations. Dr. Meera Shah’s decision to weave facts about (the lack of) abortion rights with anecdotes from her patient’s experiences with abortion was effective. The reader came to understand how these laws and regulations around abortion – especially its moralizing – have led to material consequences for patients.

I appreciated that Dr. Meera Shah’s approach to analyzing reproductive justice in the USA applied an intersectional lens. The patient anecdotes explored how gender, race, religion, income and more impacted their access to abortion and their decision to proceed (or not) with the procedure. The author also highlights how some patients decided to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, whereas others were compelled to have an abortion for medical reasons. What struck me in the latter cases was the importance of doctors putting aside their personal beliefs to protect their patients’ mental and physical health (to note, this is not always the case).

The most shocking aspect of You’re the Only One I’ve Told: the Stories Behind Abortion is how the author makes clear to the reader how abortion as a medical procedure has been politicized. Dr. Meera Shah is an abortion provider who is given – depending on the state – a specific script of information she must tell the patient, most of which is medically incorrect information used to scare patients away from the procedure (e.g., the fetus will feel pain). Also, doctors can be disbarred if they do not follow this script. The fact that politicians with an agenda (i.e., re-election) are writing these scripts and not doctors is unfathomable to me.

In Conclusion

You’re the Only One I’ve Told: the Stories Behind Abortion has a lot to offer readers well- and not versed in the reproductive justice fight in the USA. The book is informative but avoids being dry by grounding its research in patient experiences. I loved how Dr. Meera Shah concluded the book with a chapter on how the reader can get involved in the reproductive justice movement! This included easy ways to make a change and a list of non-profit and activist groups they could support.

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