by Adele
Warren M. Hern, the author of Abortion in the Age of Unreason: A Doctor’s Account of Caring for Women Before and After Roe v. Wade (Routledge, 2025), is a physician who performed abortions for over 50 years and was Director of the Boulder Abortion Clinic in Colorado from 1975 to 2025. In the 1970s, as a director at the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), he set up a federal family planning program. He is an epidemiologist, studying patterns of diseases, and professor of anthropology and of clinical medicine. He describes his patients’ experiences and the evolving political situation through the years. He explains, “Opposition to and psychological warfare against abortion is the principal organizing tool in America for imposing a totalitarian state.”
CONTROLLING OUR BODIES MEANS CONTROLLING OUR LIVES
Hern explains that abortion is an inseparable part of women controlling their fertility. It has always existed in every society, even when banned. Women’s control of their fertility is essential to determining their own lives and to participating in society. Legalizing abortion massively decreases maternal mortality rates and is necessary for checking rapid global population growth that contributes to ecological disaster.
He explains pregnancy actually is an illness, displaying all classic characteristics of any other illness. It always threatens a woman’s life and health. He states, “The treatment of choice for pregnancy is abortion unless the woman wants to be pregnant and have a baby. Then, she deserves the best medical care possible to help her survive the pregnancy and have a healthy baby.” Patriarchal lawmakers, judges, and doctors discuss abortion in terms of what “justifies” it. They view pregnancy as the normal state of women, viewing them as dehumanized reproductive machines. Authoritarian regimes frequently outlaw abortion, but individual women know best what is right for themselves and their families.
Hern examines the religious Right’s attempts to put the “personhood” of “the unborn” into law and the numerous problems this would cause. These include outlawing medical treatments for women who might be pregnant. It is as absurd as calling a blueprint a completed building. This movement denies scientific facts, including climate change and the importance of vaccination for public health.
RELIGIOUS RIGHT DESPERATE TO CONTROL WOMEN’S FERTILITY
The religious Right, aka Christian Nationalist movement, wants an authoritarian society where individuals exist to serve the government instead of government serving the people. Its openly white-supremacist leaders demand white women have more babies. They restrict funds for medical care for those with fewer resources. Black women’s maternal mortality rates are already three times as high as those of white women.
The religious Right took over the Republican party, purging pro-choice candidates. They shut down the OEO, “which not only attempted to lift people from poverty, but also worked to enable them to shape their own destinies. These goals and programs stood in direct conflict with Republican political objectives, which were focused on the maintenance of white authoritarian political power throughout the country.”
Leaders of “pro-life” organizations publicized their “hit list” of doctors performing abortions (including Hern), vocally encouraged by right-wing media personalities. They crossed out those murdered by terrorists, and celebrated vandalism and the harassment of abortion clinics. Republican presidents invited these fanatical anti-abortion leaders to the White House, spoke at their rallies, and denied that their violence was terrorism. They contemplated the death penalty for doctors performing abortions and some are now advocating for the death penalty for women who have abortions. Democrats came to power, authorizing federal marshals to protect doctors, which Republicans later revoked.
Hern reminds activists that abortion “requires excellent surgical skills, experience, and judgement.” The abortion pill, a useful tool, should be taken under medical supervision. Menstrual extraction and other do-it-yourself abortions are potentially dangerous. Grassroots feminist networks resort to providing these methods as abortion becomes illegal, but it is important to remember that our fight is for expert medical care.
This important book reminds activists to be unapologetic about fighting for abortion rights. It should be read by anyone still in denial of the religious Right’s determination to destroy democracy, a plan already causing widespread suffering, chaos, and a return to an age of unreason. Hern urges readers to “protect and expand what we have and treasure in the face of psychopathic tyranny and the threat of extinction.”