“So what happens if I don’t tell you about the time I couldn’t get an abortion, and then my son was born sick? Nothing happens. And what happens if I tell you abut the time I couldn’t get an abortion, and then my son was born sick? You tell me.”
– Christa Parravani, Loved and Wanted
I will never forget this story. I’ve never read anything so visceral. I could not put this book down. Not an easy read, but that was the point. I felt sad and shocked and enraged.
First published in 2020, even before Roe v Wade was overturned, Parravani writes about her struggle to access an abortion in West Virginia. (A state where abortion is now completely illegal.)
This book wasn’t just about the stripping away of women’s rights. It was also about family life. And how hard it can be, even on a somewhat ordinary day. She describes motherhood with such beautiful, brutal accuracy.
“There are celebrities talking about their abortions. There are writers parsing through the pain of having had to hold their stories, stories like mine, because the country wasn’t ready to hear.
On good days, sometimes I think maybe I had a small part in helping to bring stories out, by sharing mine. I’m afraid in this country, but I’m no longer alone.”
– Christa Parravani
“I’ll tell you what I believe. Nobody goes to a clinic or a doctor and joyfully ends a pregnancy. Nobody wants an abortion. They do it because they’re broke, or alone, or need to care for the children they already have or because they can’t raise a baby; there’s no room, no support, no will- they’ll be bound to the wrong partner, or place, or job. There’s no cruel, callous, or godless disregard for innocence or the sanctity of life, There’s no forgetting what ending a pregnancy is, what it means. Abortion doesn’t stop when it’s banned.”
– Christa Parravani
The Colourful Kind 