Unbearable

Unbearable: Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America by Irin Carmon is a well-written book that underlines the importance of reproductive justice. It is passionate, informative, angry, hopeful, and empathetic. It is also about some men. 

Carmon earlier co-wrote a book about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As a mother of young children, she lived it as well. 

Reproductive justice is a united whole, involving good, respectful medical care and resources before and after having a child, miscarriage, or abortion. Abortion rights were fit into a privacy frame in Roe v. Wade because that was the logical approach at the time. It was framed as a private act between a doctor and patient, which was open to reasonable regulation. 

Later, equality was mixed in more, as gender equality precedents developed. Reproductive justice was always mixed in. It became more prominent later on. 

Case law underlines the complexities. We have birth control cases. Cases involving pregnant teachers forced to leave work mid-pregnancy. Cases about breastfeeding. And much more. 

(The link at the top is Melissa Murray's interview with the author. She wrote a personal review of the breastfeeding-related book linked above, too.) 

One tragedy, in my eyes, is that not enough Supreme Court cases connected all of this into a united whole. Abortion cases were about applying a ready-made doctrine. They often involved lots of regulations at once. Individual stories and how they fit into a united whole of constitutional liberty lost out. 

The book concerns five women, including someone trying to get pregnant (also a lawyer), a doctor, and three women's experiences before and after being pregnant. They live in New York and Alabama.

The author was about to give birth herself when Dobbs was handed down. The book also has a spoiler in the table of contents. I awaited the shoe to drop.