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About Beyond Choice
With reproductive freedom in jeopardy, Alexander Sanger, grandson of renowned family planning advocate Margaret Sanger and a longtime leader in the reproductive rights movement, has taken an urgent, fresh look at the pro-choice position—and even the pro-life position—and finds them necessary, but insufficient. In Beyond Choice he offers the first major re-thinking of these positions in thirty years.
Press
Friday, January 9, 2004
BEYOND CHOICE
REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM IN THE 21ST CENTURY
ALEXANDER SANGER
Chair of the International Planned Parenthood Council
Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund
Publication Date: February 3, 2004
From a noted leader of the pro-choice movement,
a new scientific argument for abortion in ourÑand everyÑsociety.
* * *
“In the tradition of his grandmother, Margaret Sanger, Alex Sanger is challenging us to look in a new way at a woman's reproductive freedom. BEYOND CHOICE contends that the pro-choice movement must re-think its message if it is to have political success and then gives a thorough outline of why and how to change the rhetoric. Well researched and readable, BEYOND CHOICE should be required reading for both pro-choice and pro-life supporters.”
—GOVERNOR CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN
“This book will allow us to finally have a meaningful debate on reproductive health in America. It is insightful, easily understood, and written in a scholarly manner that I consider to be helpful whether a person is pro-choice or pro-life. Dr. Sanger's book is a must-read for all those who value reason in the debate on reproductive choice in America.”
—M. JOYCELYN ELDERS, M.D.
The word “moral” not been used to advocate abortion, but that is about to change. In his new book, BEYOND CHOICE: Reproductive Freedom in the 21st Century (PublicAffairs, February 3, 2004), long-time Planned Parenthood official Alexander Sanger—grandson of legendary birth control activist Margaret Sanger—argues that abortion is not only a morally upright birth control option, but also is in keeping with humankind’s reproductive strategies and evolutionary history.
The percentages of people in the United States who describe themselves as “pro-choice,” “pro-life,” and “undecided” has barely changed over the past 30 years, writes Sanger. However, the passage of a bill this fall by Congress banning so-called “partial birth” abortions combined with a tendency among young people to be more pro-life than their parents points to a chink in the armor. Unless the pro-choice movement changes its arguments in favor of abortion, Sanger concludes, there is no guarantee that the procedure will remain legal, safe and widely available in the coming years.
To this end, Sanger has penned an intriguing and provocative defense of abortion based on the biology and evolution of the human race. “I believe we can best advance reproductive freedom, not just by extolling it as a fundamental element of human freedom and dignity,” he writes, “but by supporting it as an indispensable part of our biological destiny.” When women are required to give birth to a child they do not want or cannot support—rather than time the child’s arrival on their own terms—that means a lesser quality of life for that child and its parents, as well as a greater negative impact on society, higher infant and maternal death rates, and of course more cases of female infertility and death brought on by illegal abortions.
Childbearing is not to be taken lightly, writes Sanger, especially since men and women have different reproductive strategies without even being conscious of them. Male reproductive interests are just as important in this equation as those of women; they too have an interest in spacing and timing the birth of their children. However, men are at a disadvantage because until recently they have not been able to verify the paternity of their children and guarantee that their genes will be carried on by the next generation. It is this paternity uncertainty that has led men in power to try to legislate women’s sexuality, Sanger writes. DNA testing on babies can address men’s paternal insecurities, make restraints on women’s reproductive rights unnecessary and promote the reproductive interests of both men and women.
Contrary to mainstream opinion, it may also be in the biological interest of some women, especially poor women, to have children at an early age—even in their teenage years. Sanger writes that since women in poorer communities tend to sicken and die younger, it may be a viable reproductive strategy for these women to have children while healthy and in their teens. What’s more, studies show that having children as a teenager is not as economically, socially, or psychologically damaging to the mother or the child as was once thought.
New reproductive technologies, however, are not always useful in advancing reproductive rights, Sanger writes. Gender selection and genetic screening of fetuses should be allowed—with the option to abort any fetuses that do not meet the parents’ requirements. But, if evidence mounted that reproductive technologies were being used to discriminate against a gender in a wide-spread fashion, they should be banned. The fields of cloning and genetic engineering should be watched closely and legislated against if there is evidence that they hurt the natural and random evolution of humankind.
On the other hand, the government banning anything that has to do with childbearing gets dangerous. To legislate against one area leaves open the possibility of broadening restrictions on abortion and other methods of birth control, Sanger writes. When the government makes laws barring reproductive freedom on a “moral” basis, he says, there is a distinct conflict between personal freedom and society. There is no seamless web of morality over time—public opinion on sex before marriage, the Pill, and homosexuality have all changed over the years—so a blanket rule that all pregnant women must give birth is instead a truly immoral edict. It takes a compelling biological reason to legislate reproductive options, and no such reason has been found in terms of abortion.
In closing, Sanger offers a vision for an America that values personal reproductive freedom and also ensures that all classes have equal access to reproductive options. He argues that society should encourage women to have wanted children and should pay for fertility services so all people who want children can have them. Society should discourage the birth of unwanted children, and should provide contraceptive and abortion services. Young people with the requisite maturity should be able to have an abortion without their parents knowing, and the consent of the father should never be required for a woman seeking an abortion. And since society’s biological goal is to enable successful reproduction by its citizens, it should subsidize abortion, fertility services and genetic screening.
The fact that most Americans think abortion is immoral but also think it should be legal is not a contradiction, Sanger concludes, but an evolutionary reality. Having choice in the matter is moral, but so is promoting life—there is a tension there that cannot be successfully resolved by government, society or anyone other than the woman carrying that child. “Few woman today publicly and proudly acknowledge having had an abortion,” he writes. “Abortion won’t become safely legal until we recognize and admit how reproductive freedom, including the right to an abortion, furthers human destiny. We got over our shame with birth control. It is time we did so with abortion.”
ALEXANDER SANGER is currently Chair of the International Planned Parenthood Council and serves as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund. He previously served as the President of Planned Parenthood of New York City (PPNYC) and its international arm, The Margaret Sanger Center International (MSCI). He lives in New York City with his wife.
BEYOND CHOICE: REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM IN THE 21ST CENTURY
BY ALEXANDER SANGER
PublicAffairs; Publication date: February 3, 2004; Hardcover/$26.00/352 pages
ISBN: 1-58648-116-9
Jaime Leifer, Senior Publicist, PublicAffairs
212-397-6666 x532
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