Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh

I read this after Roe vs. Wade was overturned, and I am sure that influenced how much I liked this book, but I loved it. This book explores the precarious status of safe, legal abortion in a country where disapproval comes in a thick mixture of class snobbery, theological absolutism and misogynist fanaticism. It is amazing how little there is out there about abortion in fiction, and that may be a mistake. Those books in the future will likely focus on the ease of finding such an abortion if they are set in the United States, which is a shame that we never got a chance to normalize it, much the way other once controversial elements of real life, like extramarital sex, divorce, and interracial marriage have had that in the fictional world. Claudia, an experienced counselor at a reproductive health clinic in downtown Boston, is at the center of the novel. The protocols of working in a building surrounded by potentially violent activists have grown routine for Claudia. Same for the bomb threats, suspicious callers and active shooter drills. Of course, it’s all impossibly stressful, but Claudia’s only concern is giving women the care they need. She’s long beyond arguing about the essential services that she and her colleagues provide. Much of the novel is devoted to demystifying this quotidian work. There is a bit of a scary insight into the flawed thinking of misogynists who feel that women, once pregnant, have no rights, which will soon actually be the case in many states.