Reproductive Politics

In June 2022, Americans watched in shock as the Supreme Court reversed one of the nation’s landmark rulings. For nearly a half century, Roe was synonymous with women’s rights and freedoms. Then, suddenly, it was gone. In their groundbreaking book The Fall of Roe, Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer reveal the explosive inside story of how it happened. Their investigation charts the shocking political and religious campaign to take down abortion rights and remake American families, womanhood, and the nation itself.

Your guide to the emotions of pregnancy and early motherhood, from two of America’s top reproductive psychiatrists. With a combined 30 years of counseling new and expectant mothers, Dr. Sacks and Dr. Birndorf have seen firsthand how the pressure to be perfect, and perfectly happy, leaves women feeling confused and even ashamed of the emotions that can bubble up during pregnancy. Now, in What No One Tells You, the two psychiatrists show why it’s natural for “matrescence” - the birth of a mother - to be as stressful and transformative a period as adolescence.

From evolution to the epidural and beyond, Tina Cassidy presents an intelligent, enlightening, and impeccably researched cultural history of how and why we're born the way we are. Women have been giving birth for millennia, but that's about the only constant in the final stage of the great process that is human reproduction. Why is it that every culture and generation seems to have its own ideas about the best way to give birth?

People of color have been having abortions since the dawn of time, yet our access is continuously under attack. In Liberating Abortion, award-winning abortion activist Renee Bracey Sherman and journalist Regina Mahone illustrate the long racist history that brought us to this moment, uncover the hidden figures who set the foundation activists and storytellers are building on today, and explain how abortion has been and remains essential to the health of our communities.

Human trafficking is not just something that happens in other countries. Nor is it something that just happens to "other people," such as runaways or the disenfranchised. Even kids in your own neighborhood can fall victim. But they don't have to.

On June 24, 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned, and the impact was immediate: by 2024, abortion was virtually unavailable or significantly restricted in 21 states. In Undue Burden, reporter Shefali Luthra traces the unforgettable stories of patients faced with one of the most personal decisions of their lives.

At the turn of the 20th century, American women began to reject Victorian propriety in favor of passion and livelihood outside the home. This alarmed authorities, who feared certain "over-sexed" women could destroy civilization if allowed to reproduce and pass on their defects. Set against this backdrop, The Unfit Heiress chronicles the fight for inheritance, both genetic and monetary, between Ann Cooper Hewitt and her mother, Maryon.

After 20 years of private obstetrics and gynecological practice, there’s nothing Dr. Jackie Walters hasn’t seen. And now, in her new audiobook, the widely-adored OB-GYN invites you to put your feet in the stirrups and investigate. Whether she’s covering libido, contraceptives, labiaplasty, or fertility, Dr. Jackie educates listeners with her characteristic grace and pragmatism. Both funny and informative, she brings you on a quest through the female reproductive system - answering all the burning (and itching, and smelling...) questions you’ve always been afraid to ask.

To Andy Rooney and the Greatest Generation, sex was only a rumor. But to an Indiana University zoology professor, wholesome American youth was in fact promiscuous and adulterous. Alfred Kinsey's bias-masquerading-as-research became accepted wisdom, thus tainting generations of Americans. Now, in a comprehensive and investigative fashion, Judith Reisman traces not only the effects of Kinsey's diabolical research, but describes those early, falsely accused generations in very different terms, because she lived through those times.

Middle age doesn't have to be about hot flashes, irritable tempers, and no sex drive. Rigorously researched and engagingly written, Suzanne Somers' The Sexy Years is women's indispensable guide to life after 50. Making the case that the key to happiness lies in the replacement of lost hormones, Somers shares some of the benefits she had first-handedly experienced as a result: increased energy levels, improved sex drive, better weight management, and much more.

Black women have higher rates of premature birth than other women in America. This cannot be simply explained by economic factors, with poorer women lacking resources or access to care. Even professional, middle-class Black women are at a much higher risk of premature birth than low-income White women in the United States. Dána-Ain Davis looks into this phenomenon, placing racial differences in birth outcomes into a historical context, revealing that ideas about reproduction and race today have been influenced by the legacy of ideas which developed during the era of slavery.

In the summer of 1966, crammed into a DC hotel suite and passing paper cups of liquor, twenty-eight women hatched a revolutionary plan. Betty Friedan, the well-known author of The Feminine Mystique, and Pauli Murray, a lawyer at the front lines of the civil rights movement, had quietly pulled away attendees from the State Womens’ Commissions annual conference. Frustrated with government inertia, they laid out a vision for an organization to unite and advocate for all women. Inspired, challenged, skeptical, they debated the idea late into the night and the next day.

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, many feared it meant the end of abortion access in the United States. Yet the courageous work of people on the ground has allowed abortion to survive post-Dobbs in ways that no one predicted. In After Dobbs, law professor David S. Cohen and sociologist Carole Joffe interview 24 people across all different fields in abortion and in different state political environments to uncover how the abortion providing community and its allies prepared for, and then responded to this momentous event.

Tracing the path to the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade and the continuing battle for women's rights, Blumenthal examines, in a straightforward tone, the root causes of the current debate around abortion and repercussions that have affected generations of American women. This eye-opening audiobook is the perfect tool to facilitate difficult discussions and awareness of a topic that is rarely touched on in school but affects each and every young person. It's also perfect for fans of Steve Sheinkin and Deborah Heiligman.

Two days before Shea and Larami Serrano were to be married, four months into her pregnancy with twin boys, she went into labor. Stuck in a hospital room, fearing the worst, and dismantling a year’s worth of preparations in a matter of hours - the couple decides that the show must go on. Told from Shea’s and Larami’s dual perspectives, this memoir shows the powerful bond that can arise from adversity, a sense of humor, and mutual trust.

Hear the echo of a revolution at the intersection of overpopulation and women’s rights. Dive into an auditory journey that captures the essence of a world striving for balance and justice. Listen as Townsend's compelling narrative unfolds, highlighting the profound connection between overpopulation and the very essence of women's lives, rights, and aspirations. Every chapter, every word, and every nuance is brought to life in this Audible experience, ensuring you don't just hear, but feel the impact.

It’s everywhere, from commercials to New York Times best-sellers to college (and even younger) classrooms. In fact, pornography has become such a part of normal life in 21st century America that many teens and twenty-somethings have had no more important influence. They are the porn generation, where life’s expectations come from Mouseketeer pop tarts, Victoria’s Secret, internet titillation, and condom-flogging sex education.

Midwives in the United States live and work in a complex regulatory environment that is a direct result of state and medical intervention into women's reproductive capacity. In Birthing a Movement, Renee Ann Cramer draws on over a decade of ethnographic and archival research to examine the interactions of law, politics, and activism surrounding midwifery care.

Certified life coach, licensed specialty-certified New Life Story® wellness coach, and sexual confidence coach, Erica Lemke-Pembroke is on a mission to help women feel sexy again and reclaim their sexual confidence. She created the Sexy Again Method based on her own experiences, which she uses to empower women in rediscovering this for themselves. In Feel Sexy Again, women learn how to:

The Baby Matrix is a must-listen for anyone interested in psychology, sociology, anthropology, parenting issues, environmentalism, and social justice. But most of all, it's for anyone, parent or not, who reveres the truth and wants the best for themselves, their families, and our world.