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Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America
A powerfully empathetic and impeccably researched look at abortion clinic escorting
Abortion has been legal for nearly fifty years in the United States, but with a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court and an emboldened opposition in the street, the threat to its existence has never been more pressing. Clinic escorts— everyday volunteers—are prepared to stand up and protect abortion access, as they have for decades, even in the face of terrorism and violence. They have lived, and sometimes died, to ensure that abortion remains not only accessible but also a basic human right. Clinic escorts have fought the “abortion wars” on the front lines, and it is clinic escorts who will win it, by replacing hostility with humanity.
Collecting the stories of these brave volunteers from around the country—including the author’s own—interviews with clinic staff and patients, and research and input from abortion rights experts, Bodies on the Line makes a clear case for the right to an abortion as a fundamental part of human dignity, and the stakes facing us all if it ends. Bodies on the Line is a celebration of the crucial, often unsung heroes of abortion access and an inspiring call to defend this basic health care before it’s too late.
Abortion has been legal for nearly fifty years in the United States, but with a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court and an emboldened opposition in the street, the threat to its existence has never been more pressing. Clinic escorts— everyday volunteers—are prepared to stand up and protect abortion access, as they have for decades, even in the face of terrorism and violence. They have lived, and sometimes died, to ensure that abortion remains not only accessible but also a basic human right. Clinic escorts have fought the “abortion wars” on the front lines, and it is clinic escorts who will win it, by replacing hostility with humanity.
Collecting the stories of these brave volunteers from around the country—including the author’s own—interviews with clinic staff and patients, and research and input from abortion rights experts, Bodies on the Line makes a clear case for the right to an abortion as a fundamental part of human dignity, and the stakes facing us all if it ends. Bodies on the Line is a celebration of the crucial, often unsung heroes of abortion access and an inspiring call to defend this basic health care before it’s too late.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
April 22, 2022
I remember when the author first put out her tweet for this book, asking for clinic escorts and defenders who had experience with it back in the really scary days, the 80s-90s. I immediately reached out to my friend and veteran escort, because I knew she had seen a lot. I’ve read so much about those days, and it never gets any less scary. We may have FACE Act now, but it isn’t really enforced. This book tells the story that isn’t often told: the story of escorts and defenders. While there aren’t nearly enough books on abortion care, they are growing in numbers. Fewer still, however, are books about escorts. The work we do is so incredibly hard, but time and time again, I have seen that all of the emotional labor that we put into it is always worth it. If we can provide someone with empathy, compassion, dignity and respect— that is all that matters.
Each week, I am asked, how are they allowed to do this? I read about this, I saw it on TickTock, but I didn’t know it was actually real. Why are they out here? I tell them, it’s definitely real. I stand up to these bullies, and I do it with a smile.
I urge you to read this book, get involved with a clinic near you. Volunteer, donate to local funds, talk about abortion, center the persons who need it, and fight back.
Each week, I am asked, how are they allowed to do this? I read about this, I saw it on TickTock, but I didn’t know it was actually real. Why are they out here? I tell them, it’s definitely real. I stand up to these bullies, and I do it with a smile.
I urge you to read this book, get involved with a clinic near you. Volunteer, donate to local funds, talk about abortion, center the persons who need it, and fight back.
August 5, 2022
One star for this pack of pro-abortion lies.
Lots of accusations against pro-lifers, all of them unsubstantiated. I know people who sidewalk counsel and it's nothing like what this author portrays. She accuses sidewalk counselors of yelling and screaming at women, but also condemns them for being too polite and nice. She accuses 40 Days for Life, whose whole philosophy is nonviolence and respect for women, of harassing pregnant people and threatening clinic workers. She even accuses a 40 days for life demonstrator of carrying a Nazi flag – and even though she says that pro-choice escorts record videos of pro-life infractions, apparently, no one thought to take a picture of this flag, and the story hasn't been corroborated by a single other person. I believe it's a complete fabrication, and the author has no proof to demonstrate that it happened, just one escort's word.
And don't even get me started on the ableism in this book. The author shows disrespect for disabled people, painting us as dupes who are used by pro-lifers, because, apparently, a disabled person is helpless and we can't think for ourselves. But of course, if we are at the clinics, it can't be because we made a choice to be there and we care about the issue – it has to be because the evil antichoicers are exploiting us – because as disabled people, we obviously have no agency or ability to make our own decisions, we're just helpless. Ironically, she then goes on to commend a disabled woman who testified against pro-life laws – apparently, disabled people are only helpless dupes being taken advantage of if they're on the pro-life side.
Which brings me to the fact that she accuses pro-lifers of recording women coming into clinics and posting the pictures online – with no documentation or proof or link to where these pictures might be – this simply isn't happening. I've never heard of pro-lifers doing this, and I've never seen any pictures online, and the author doesn't give any evidence that this ever happens, but she implies that all pro-lifers do it. And then, just a few sentences later, she says that pro-choice activists take pictures with their phones of "interactions" while they are in front of the clinics – it's exploitive when pro-lifers do it, but acceptable when pro-choicers do it, I guess. Such a double standard, just like with the disabled.
Then she admits that she doesn't know anything about the women she "helped" and wouldn't recognize 99% of them if she met them again, but this doesn't stop her from bragging about what a powerful connection she has with the women she is with for less than 30 seconds and who she knows nothing about. In contrast, pro-lifers really help women and pregnant people – they provide ongoing help for years, getting to know the people and their families, and helping them with things like housing, medical care, baby items, etc. pro-life pregnancy centers give real, tangible help. When pro-life sidewalk counselors offer help to pregnant people going into abortion clinics, they really mean it – they offer far, far more help and support than clinic escorts do.
And in what world is the author living where thousands of people regularly congregate at abortion clinics? That's a ridiculous accusation and hasn't been true since the late 80s early 90s when there were clinic blockades. But that doesn't stop the author from lying about it.
This whole book lies from beginning to end, twisting reality and portraying pro-lifers in the worst possible light while portraying clinic escorts as selfless heroes. This book has absolutely no value whatsoever and is just propaganda and dishonest propaganda at that.
Lots of accusations against pro-lifers, all of them unsubstantiated. I know people who sidewalk counsel and it's nothing like what this author portrays. She accuses sidewalk counselors of yelling and screaming at women, but also condemns them for being too polite and nice. She accuses 40 Days for Life, whose whole philosophy is nonviolence and respect for women, of harassing pregnant people and threatening clinic workers. She even accuses a 40 days for life demonstrator of carrying a Nazi flag – and even though she says that pro-choice escorts record videos of pro-life infractions, apparently, no one thought to take a picture of this flag, and the story hasn't been corroborated by a single other person. I believe it's a complete fabrication, and the author has no proof to demonstrate that it happened, just one escort's word.
And don't even get me started on the ableism in this book. The author shows disrespect for disabled people, painting us as dupes who are used by pro-lifers, because, apparently, a disabled person is helpless and we can't think for ourselves. But of course, if we are at the clinics, it can't be because we made a choice to be there and we care about the issue – it has to be because the evil antichoicers are exploiting us – because as disabled people, we obviously have no agency or ability to make our own decisions, we're just helpless. Ironically, she then goes on to commend a disabled woman who testified against pro-life laws – apparently, disabled people are only helpless dupes being taken advantage of if they're on the pro-life side.
Which brings me to the fact that she accuses pro-lifers of recording women coming into clinics and posting the pictures online – with no documentation or proof or link to where these pictures might be – this simply isn't happening. I've never heard of pro-lifers doing this, and I've never seen any pictures online, and the author doesn't give any evidence that this ever happens, but she implies that all pro-lifers do it. And then, just a few sentences later, she says that pro-choice activists take pictures with their phones of "interactions" while they are in front of the clinics – it's exploitive when pro-lifers do it, but acceptable when pro-choicers do it, I guess. Such a double standard, just like with the disabled.
Then she admits that she doesn't know anything about the women she "helped" and wouldn't recognize 99% of them if she met them again, but this doesn't stop her from bragging about what a powerful connection she has with the women she is with for less than 30 seconds and who she knows nothing about. In contrast, pro-lifers really help women and pregnant people – they provide ongoing help for years, getting to know the people and their families, and helping them with things like housing, medical care, baby items, etc. pro-life pregnancy centers give real, tangible help. When pro-life sidewalk counselors offer help to pregnant people going into abortion clinics, they really mean it – they offer far, far more help and support than clinic escorts do.
And in what world is the author living where thousands of people regularly congregate at abortion clinics? That's a ridiculous accusation and hasn't been true since the late 80s early 90s when there were clinic blockades. But that doesn't stop the author from lying about it.
This whole book lies from beginning to end, twisting reality and portraying pro-lifers in the worst possible light while portraying clinic escorts as selfless heroes. This book has absolutely no value whatsoever and is just propaganda and dishonest propaganda at that.
May 17, 2022
The title and cover don't make it obvious, but this book is primarily about the volunteers who escort individuals into healthcare centers and abortion clinics, and their role in the fight for reproductive rights for the past century or so. It's incredibly timely and incredibly inspiring. It was just the book to spur me to get out and protest this weekend. (Not that I needed any more encouragement than watching the news.)
November 4, 2022
This book is a thank you note to those that protect the right for women to chose. It’s a true story of bravery and sacrifice and an excellent look into the war being waged over women’s bodily autonomy. It’s too heavy to binge. Read with tissues close by.
April 2, 2022
This book was both hopeful and infuriating at the same time. Hopeful because of the determination and compassion shown by those who support abortion rights, yet infuriating due to the many laws restricting those rights that have been passed within recent years. I was inspired to learn of the many ways I could get involved, even if I couldn't personally be a clinic escort. I really enjoyed reading about the various volunteers and the way they have shaped history and human dignity through actions both large and small. 4.5 stars
June 28, 2022
I was slack-jawed while reading this book. I read this in the immediate aftermath of Roe v. Wade being overturned, but what I realized in reading Rankin's work is that Roe v. Wade alone was never enough. A federal law wasn't enough to stop protesters from forming blockades to clinics or from verbally harassing, photographing, or filming the persons seeking medical care. A federal law wasn't enough to stop states from closing clinics or from virtually rendering abortion inaccessible.
Lauren Rankin tells the stories of the men and women who chose to put their bodies on the line for complete strangers, serving as clinic escorts. She demonstrates how a comforting presence, someone who literally walks a person in the door, can make a difference for the care-seeker.
These are important stories to tell now and in the days to come.
Lauren Rankin tells the stories of the men and women who chose to put their bodies on the line for complete strangers, serving as clinic escorts. She demonstrates how a comforting presence, someone who literally walks a person in the door, can make a difference for the care-seeker.
These are important stories to tell now and in the days to come.
July 3, 2022
Incredible book about the victims of anti-abortion crimes, tactics, and extreme antagonism and violence. AND this was when R v W was legal.. A real eye opener... I am praying that every woman will read this book...
If was published in April of this year.... which is so crushing...
If was published in April of this year.... which is so crushing...
January 7, 2023
timely important audiobook to listen, healthcare is a human right. Reproductive rights should be protected.
July 16, 2022
Started reading this book a few days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, in part to lean into my sorrow/rage and in part because I needed some hope. Lauren Rankin does a wonderful job painting the humanity and real stories of clinic escorts, physicians, and patients. The book made me weep at multiple points thinking about the sheer bravery shown by doctors, staff, and escorts in the face of violence from extremists, all to ensure that people can access vital healthcare necessary to live their full lives. Those in the reproductive health world have known for ages that one single case is insufficient to enshrine a right to abortion and certainly insufficient to actually create access to that right. I ultimately did emerge feeling frankly depressed about the current status of access in America, but inspired by many of the individuals highlighted in the book and hopeful that even more people countrywide will feel called to fight for this right.
The book is very well-researched and written. My only nits are that I wish there had been a little more exposition at the front end about abortion as a safe, common procedure and the very many reasons why abortion is essential, rather than sprinkled throughout. And occasionally the timeline of caselaw / presidencies was not chronological, which I think would have made it clearer.
The book is very well-researched and written. My only nits are that I wish there had been a little more exposition at the front end about abortion as a safe, common procedure and the very many reasons why abortion is essential, rather than sprinkled throughout. And occasionally the timeline of caselaw / presidencies was not chronological, which I think would have made it clearer.
Read
May 11, 2022This is important and I should be trying to finish this before it's due back at the library tomorrow but I just like...can't?
June 27, 2022
A timely read considering SCOTUS just overturned Roe vs Wade. The book is mostly about being a patient escort at Reproductive clinics helping patients navigate all the protestors and getting safely inside the clinic. She examines in great detail the threats, bombings and murders over the years of abortion providers which just shows the sheer hypocrisy of the “pro life” movement. The book definitely empowers you to want to help women obtain safe abortions and have the autonomy to make their own choices!!
July 28, 2022
This filled me with equal parts rage and hope.
June 29, 2022
This should be required reading for anyone who wants to get involved with protecting access to safe abortions in this country.
February 5, 2023
This is a shortish, modern history of abortion volunteers who walk those seeking care through the front lines of protestors and how the escalation of those groups has only grown in recent years. There was a fantastic section about Buffalo that I wasn't aware of being a Buffalo native. This was a very difficult read however, as the author started the book right before the pandemic and it was published in 2022 before the overturning of Roe.
The limited focus of the book was extremely impactful and provided a clear narrative voice for the author to share this history and its impact. I would highly recommend this book to anyone inclined towards feminist readings.
The limited focus of the book was extremely impactful and provided a clear narrative voice for the author to share this history and its impact. I would highly recommend this book to anyone inclined towards feminist readings.
June 14, 2022
Though not an overt argument for Roe v Wade nor for abortion rights, it is arguably a pro-choice book at its heart. Told from the perspective of a clinic escort volunteer, Rankin explains the comings and goings of laws that affect patients beyond the legalities of getting an abortion. She explains the origins of pro-life groups and the ways in which they protest and lobby--quite literally using their bodies to try to force patients to turn away.
And these are not just patients who live in the city. These are patients who spend countless hours driving in a car about to break down. These are patients who must scrounge up every last penny they have to pay for an appointment. These are patients whose abortion clinics in their states have been shut down or bombed.
Rankin discusses how effective--or ineffective--police help can be as well as the horrific things escorts and patients must hear hurled at them. She discusses the bombings in Brookline, MA (just a few miles away, eek!) and the first death of an escort. She discusses the harassment from pro-life groups even beyond the clinic address and how escorts have been forced to move to different towns because their children have been harassed.
Instead of creating resources that would actually benefit mothers who may be seeking abortions for financial reasons and not because they do not want children/do not want to be pregnant.
The ways in which she chronicles and references all of her research make sense, moving from just before Roe v Wade up until the time of her writing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though I've read plenty of books about abortion rights, from academic texts to Norma McCorvey's biography, I had yet (until now) read from the perspective of a clinic escort. It's definitely an under-realized perspective, and one that shows that the abortion "argument" is not just between protestors and patients. It's not even just between doctors, either. It's about families. It's about escorts. It's about all the women and men who show up to protect these women from being harassed and assaulted and from seeing horrendous photographs of bloody fetuses and from being called terrible names.
Well worth the read, especially in this political climate. It's inspiring and will make you want to do something about women's rights, too.
And these are not just patients who live in the city. These are patients who spend countless hours driving in a car about to break down. These are patients who must scrounge up every last penny they have to pay for an appointment. These are patients whose abortion clinics in their states have been shut down or bombed.
Rankin discusses how effective--or ineffective--police help can be as well as the horrific things escorts and patients must hear hurled at them. She discusses the bombings in Brookline, MA (just a few miles away, eek!) and the first death of an escort. She discusses the harassment from pro-life groups even beyond the clinic address and how escorts have been forced to move to different towns because their children have been harassed.
Instead of creating resources that would actually benefit mothers who may be seeking abortions for financial reasons and not because they do not want children/do not want to be pregnant.
The ways in which she chronicles and references all of her research make sense, moving from just before Roe v Wade up until the time of her writing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though I've read plenty of books about abortion rights, from academic texts to Norma McCorvey's biography, I had yet (until now) read from the perspective of a clinic escort. It's definitely an under-realized perspective, and one that shows that the abortion "argument" is not just between protestors and patients. It's not even just between doctors, either. It's about families. It's about escorts. It's about all the women and men who show up to protect these women from being harassed and assaulted and from seeing horrendous photographs of bloody fetuses and from being called terrible names.
Well worth the read, especially in this political climate. It's inspiring and will make you want to do something about women's rights, too.
June 3, 2022
Abortion is an issue that never quite got my blood running the way it does for so many other people. But it's sure in the news a lot lately and I saw this at my local library, so let's give it a shot.
Rankin looks at one particular aspect of abortion: volunteers working as clinic escorts. In particular, the book is the role these escorts have played in the years of the pro-life pushback on Roe v. Wade. Many clinics have frequent and sizable anti-abortion protesters outside. Among the most impressive parts of the book was the depiction of the pro-lifers. I just had a hazy/lazy impression of them like the protester in Juno (which this book references repeatedly) - benign but earnest people. Well, they typically make the experience of entering (and leaving) the clinic as traumatic as possible for those going there in order to prevent the abortions. The trauamtic nature of the protest isn't happenstance, but often deliberate. (And, if the abortion-seeker is black, then you can add in another layer of insult sent that person's way).
The escorts are there to provide some solace and aid. The book makes the point that withouth the escorts, a heckuva lot fewer people would get abortions.
But it isn't just protesters outside the streets, but laws passed that make it harder for clinics to stay open, creating needlessly high standards for what it them to stay afloat. Kentucky once had 17 clinics, but now had one. It's one of seven states with just one clinic, along with West Virginia, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Mississippi, and Wyoming. Overall, a third of the clinics in the US have closed down in the last decade.
It's an interesting account, but it does get repetitious at times, as the same factoid is presented two or three times. And the focus shifts from a more chronological one to a more impressionistic one later on, and that threw me a bit. It's a compelling book overall.
Rankin looks at one particular aspect of abortion: volunteers working as clinic escorts. In particular, the book is the role these escorts have played in the years of the pro-life pushback on Roe v. Wade. Many clinics have frequent and sizable anti-abortion protesters outside. Among the most impressive parts of the book was the depiction of the pro-lifers. I just had a hazy/lazy impression of them like the protester in Juno (which this book references repeatedly) - benign but earnest people. Well, they typically make the experience of entering (and leaving) the clinic as traumatic as possible for those going there in order to prevent the abortions. The trauamtic nature of the protest isn't happenstance, but often deliberate. (And, if the abortion-seeker is black, then you can add in another layer of insult sent that person's way).
The escorts are there to provide some solace and aid. The book makes the point that withouth the escorts, a heckuva lot fewer people would get abortions.
But it isn't just protesters outside the streets, but laws passed that make it harder for clinics to stay open, creating needlessly high standards for what it them to stay afloat. Kentucky once had 17 clinics, but now had one. It's one of seven states with just one clinic, along with West Virginia, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Mississippi, and Wyoming. Overall, a third of the clinics in the US have closed down in the last decade.
It's an interesting account, but it does get repetitious at times, as the same factoid is presented two or three times. And the focus shifts from a more chronological one to a more impressionistic one later on, and that threw me a bit. It's a compelling book overall.
May 23, 2022
3.5 stars—This is the story of the institution and work of volunteers who escort patients into abortion clinics—especially during the violent days of the 1980s and 1990s, when shootings and bombings at clinics were frequent occurrences.
Before federal legislation made it a crime, some anti-abortion protestors would actually physically assault people entering clinics, which is why the idea of escorts to literally shield patients caught on. As the book’s title indicates, these clinic escorts were indeed putting their bodies—and sometimes lives—on the line. Of course, laws are only as effective as their enforcement. The author includes multiple accounts in which hostile police officers not only refused to enforce the FACE Act, but would openly express their support for the anti-abortion side in the regular melees that occurred on clinic property.
BODIES ON THE LINE is not an easy read, but it important and obviously timely. The book's description of a “religious” leader’s vicious harassment of a 12-year old girl is sickening, especially when one contemplates the grim possibilities that resulted in a 12-year-old needing to visit a clinic in the first place.
I felt the author missed an opportunity to remind readers of a sobering historical fact: the religious right didn’t always oppose abortion. Multiple religious leaders and organizations either supported its legalization or considered it a non-issue. It wasn’t until the modern religious right’s original crusade—the fight to maintain racial segregation in their private schools—failed, that they latched onto the militant pro-life identity that they wield to this day. Unlike with segregation, they have been by all accounts successful in their effort.
Although the political and social lobbyists came from a cynical and opportunistic place, I don’t think the everyday individuals who engage in anti-abortion activism are faking their concern. I believe they do truly care about what they see as a grave sin, and pro-choicers are making a mistake when they tell them that their feelings aren't valid. However, it would make far more sense for pro-lifers to support policies that would help prevent more people from ever ending up at a clinic’s door in the first place. They would support factual information about birth control methods and comprehensive sex education in schools. They would support universal healthcare, higher wages, and childcare options. I am certain there are pro-lifers who fight for all of these things. But as we all know, this is not the anti-abortion movement that is getting the press and making the laws.
Before federal legislation made it a crime, some anti-abortion protestors would actually physically assault people entering clinics, which is why the idea of escorts to literally shield patients caught on. As the book’s title indicates, these clinic escorts were indeed putting their bodies—and sometimes lives—on the line. Of course, laws are only as effective as their enforcement. The author includes multiple accounts in which hostile police officers not only refused to enforce the FACE Act, but would openly express their support for the anti-abortion side in the regular melees that occurred on clinic property.
BODIES ON THE LINE is not an easy read, but it important and obviously timely. The book's description of a “religious” leader’s vicious harassment of a 12-year old girl is sickening, especially when one contemplates the grim possibilities that resulted in a 12-year-old needing to visit a clinic in the first place.
I felt the author missed an opportunity to remind readers of a sobering historical fact: the religious right didn’t always oppose abortion. Multiple religious leaders and organizations either supported its legalization or considered it a non-issue. It wasn’t until the modern religious right’s original crusade—the fight to maintain racial segregation in their private schools—failed, that they latched onto the militant pro-life identity that they wield to this day. Unlike with segregation, they have been by all accounts successful in their effort.
Although the political and social lobbyists came from a cynical and opportunistic place, I don’t think the everyday individuals who engage in anti-abortion activism are faking their concern. I believe they do truly care about what they see as a grave sin, and pro-choicers are making a mistake when they tell them that their feelings aren't valid. However, it would make far more sense for pro-lifers to support policies that would help prevent more people from ever ending up at a clinic’s door in the first place. They would support factual information about birth control methods and comprehensive sex education in schools. They would support universal healthcare, higher wages, and childcare options. I am certain there are pro-lifers who fight for all of these things. But as we all know, this is not the anti-abortion movement that is getting the press and making the laws.
June 5, 2022
Such an amazing dive into a corner of the repro movement thats not always talked about! Clinic escorting/defense is truly some of the hardest work done for repro rights. I am in awe of these folks every day. Plus, super nice to see some familiar names of friends in the book!
May 31, 2022
Non-fiction. An exploration of the role clinic escorts play and have played in securing abortion rights. Well done but depressing rather than inspiring to read at the current moment.
January 23, 2022
Bodies on the Line by Lauren Rankin is both an eye-opening account of the fight to protect those doing perfectly legal acts from those terrorists who will resort to violence and deception to prevent it as well as a startling example of just how different the anti-abortion people are from anything even resembling pro-life (one of their preferred incorrect names for themselves).
This is not about the technicalities, legal or medical, surrounding the struggle for safe healthcare for women. When these things are brought up they serve to give context to the struggle to offer good healthcare. This is the story of the people who risked their bodies and even their lives to help women do what they are legally permitted to do, against those willing to intimidate, abuse, and even kill to stop them. This is far more personal than the larger histories of the struggles. It also centers on an often overlooked but every bit as essential group, the escorts and defenders who care about the actual living and breathing people who would otherwise be traumatized by all the faux-Christian groups spewing their venom.
If you care at all about actual people, actual women, then you will fluctuate between moments of joy and moments of sadness, and definitely moments of intense anger at the depths of hatred these people who use "love" as a weapon have toward women.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
This is not about the technicalities, legal or medical, surrounding the struggle for safe healthcare for women. When these things are brought up they serve to give context to the struggle to offer good healthcare. This is the story of the people who risked their bodies and even their lives to help women do what they are legally permitted to do, against those willing to intimidate, abuse, and even kill to stop them. This is far more personal than the larger histories of the struggles. It also centers on an often overlooked but every bit as essential group, the escorts and defenders who care about the actual living and breathing people who would otherwise be traumatized by all the faux-Christian groups spewing their venom.
If you care at all about actual people, actual women, then you will fluctuate between moments of joy and moments of sadness, and definitely moments of intense anger at the depths of hatred these people who use "love" as a weapon have toward women.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
May 9, 2022
Enlightening and extremely timely, this book chronicles the history of abortion clinic escorts and how they've worked to protect women from exercising their right to healthcare AND keep them safe from networks of increasingly violent and harassing anti-abortion protestors. Rankin is an abortion rights activist who has worked as a volunteer clinic escort and has seen first-hand the violence and vitriol. Using extensive research and her own experiences, she presents the chaotic yet necessary work of these amazing volunteers.
Rankin's engaging prose reveals her passion for this work and a woman's right for bodily autonomy. Using a litany of historical facts, she also shines light on a surprising aspect of this work: How even after the FACE Act became law (The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act), local police still didn't protect abortion clinic entrances--and the women going into them--as well as they should have. This info is a sad testament to how still, in 2022, patriarchal structures govern issues that affect women, their lives, and their bodies.
All in all an absorbing and timely must-read.
Rankin's engaging prose reveals her passion for this work and a woman's right for bodily autonomy. Using a litany of historical facts, she also shines light on a surprising aspect of this work: How even after the FACE Act became law (The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act), local police still didn't protect abortion clinic entrances--and the women going into them--as well as they should have. This info is a sad testament to how still, in 2022, patriarchal structures govern issues that affect women, their lives, and their bodies.
All in all an absorbing and timely must-read.
May 21, 2022
Heartbreaking personal anecdotes from a brave abortion clinic escort. Terrifying.
January 24, 2022
I didn't realize--which could be a me issue--that this was going to be like 90% about clinic escorting. This is fair enough! The book title, in retrospect, even implies it! I'm glad this book exists, but also i wish i hadn't read it. As someone pretty deep in the abortion/repro sphere, i didn't feel like i got that much new info from it but it managed to really bring me down. While we wait for Roe to finally fall, i wanted something that felt like it offered more paths forward, which this didn't, for me. I want people who AREN'T worried to read it, though!
Netgalley advanced copy. I'm going to rate it differently there than i did here, because here i am rating it based on my personal experience of it versus my... i don't know, feeling of the overall good-ness of a book?
Netgalley advanced copy. I'm going to rate it differently there than i did here, because here i am rating it based on my personal experience of it versus my... i don't know, feeling of the overall good-ness of a book?
November 6, 2022
This book did not have a consistent timeline, often jumping around different decades on the same page. The writing was repetitive and hard to follow.
May 9, 2022
I joined the queue for the audiobook from my library in early 2022, but in an ironic twist of fate, I was notified of its availability the day after the decision to overturn Roe was leaked. I was already enraged and saddened by the news, but Bodies on the Line just solidified and heightened my reactions to the leaked decision. Rankin paints a bittersweet overview of what it is like to be an abortion clinic escort after Roe was decided in 1973. This viewpoint of discussing abortion in the US was one that isn’t typically focused on in the fight for abortion rights. It was particularly interesting for me, since before my illnesses disabled me and before Covid, I was strongly considering volunteering my time to be a clinic escort.
Bodies on the Line, as I mentioned earlier, focuses on the people who quite literally put their bodies on the line as clinic escorts. Rankin documents her own experience as a clinic escort and tells the story of other escorts. The descriptions of their roles of shielding patients from zealous protestors are harrowing and conjure a complex web of emotions. Through her own experience and through interviews with other escorts, Rankin describes the heartbreaking journeys some patients go through just to receive an abortion: barely scrounging up enough payment, travelling hours and hours by car, putting their jobs in jeopardy by missing work, and trying to jump through the complex red tape that states enact to try to curb as many abortion procedures as possible.
This is an important book to read in 2022: not only due to the unique perspective it offers in the fight for abortion, but also because Rankin wrote Bodies on the Line with the looming possibility that Roe might be overturned in mind. Now that Roe is poised to fall, Rankin’s insights in how post-Roe abortion access will look. While these harrowing depictions of post-1974 abortion access made me even more livid at the leaked Supreme Court decision, this account also gave me a sliver of hope when recognizing the people that put their bodies on the line to ensure people have access to safe abortions.
Bodies on the Line, as I mentioned earlier, focuses on the people who quite literally put their bodies on the line as clinic escorts. Rankin documents her own experience as a clinic escort and tells the story of other escorts. The descriptions of their roles of shielding patients from zealous protestors are harrowing and conjure a complex web of emotions. Through her own experience and through interviews with other escorts, Rankin describes the heartbreaking journeys some patients go through just to receive an abortion: barely scrounging up enough payment, travelling hours and hours by car, putting their jobs in jeopardy by missing work, and trying to jump through the complex red tape that states enact to try to curb as many abortion procedures as possible.
This is an important book to read in 2022: not only due to the unique perspective it offers in the fight for abortion, but also because Rankin wrote Bodies on the Line with the looming possibility that Roe might be overturned in mind. Now that Roe is poised to fall, Rankin’s insights in how post-Roe abortion access will look. While these harrowing depictions of post-1974 abortion access made me even more livid at the leaked Supreme Court decision, this account also gave me a sliver of hope when recognizing the people that put their bodies on the line to ensure people have access to safe abortions.
August 6, 2022
I had no idea the scope of the violence of anti-abortion protestors. I mean, I've heard references but only to the big events—murders of abortion providers and bombings of clinics. I wasn't aware of the every day violence and harassment at clinics across the country. This book was extremely eye opening. UGH.
"Abortion is, at its core, about life, just not in the way that abortion opponents claim. Everything that surrounds getting an abortion from the decision to the cost to travel and getting in the door-is about someone's life, the course of that life, the value of that life. That's why I never argue about when a "life" begins, because that isn't the point. The life of the pregnant person is the point. The course of their life is the point. The realities and complexities and hardships and accomplishments: they matter. Their actual, embodied life transcends any philosophical debate in that moment, because I can see with my own eyes and feel with my own heart the weight of that life, the importance of that person's ability to determine what happens to their own life."
"Abortion is, at its core, about life, just not in the way that abortion opponents claim. Everything that surrounds getting an abortion from the decision to the cost to travel and getting in the door-is about someone's life, the course of that life, the value of that life. That's why I never argue about when a "life" begins, because that isn't the point. The life of the pregnant person is the point. The course of their life is the point. The realities and complexities and hardships and accomplishments: they matter. Their actual, embodied life transcends any philosophical debate in that moment, because I can see with my own eyes and feel with my own heart the weight of that life, the importance of that person's ability to determine what happens to their own life."
June 21, 2022
I started to read this book because I am a clinic escort and because other escorts whom I know are mentioned. I was really impressed with how much research was conducted by the author: the book presents a complete history of the fight for abortion rights in the US, of what clinic escorts are doing, and gives escorts the voice to share their stories.
It always amazes me how people who are not involved with abortion clinics are completely unaware of the current situation. Virtually nobody with whom I talk about escorting knows that the protesters are not "somewhere in the South", but right here, in the Chicago Loop! This book is a great resource for people who want to learn more about the current situation and obstacles pregnant individuals face when trying to execute their rights to access free and safe abortion.
It always amazes me how people who are not involved with abortion clinics are completely unaware of the current situation. Virtually nobody with whom I talk about escorting knows that the protesters are not "somewhere in the South", but right here, in the Chicago Loop! This book is a great resource for people who want to learn more about the current situation and obstacles pregnant individuals face when trying to execute their rights to access free and safe abortion.
August 22, 2022
I can't even speak after reading this book. I had to read it slowly, a chapter at a time, sometimes less, because every page just made me more and more angry. Reading how so many people sacrificed so much to allow access to safe and legal abortions, only to watch as our country continues to strip away the rights of it's child bearing people, was so difficult to read, but it definitely should be an important read.
October 19, 2022
This book is full of stories of incredible activists and volunteers that have and continue to fight for not only abortion access, but for basic human dignity when seeking the medical care patients have chosen for themselves. One of my biggest takeaways for me is the concern about members of the police across the country failing to protect, and even hindering, those seeking legal healthcare. Clinic escorts are clearly the unsung heroes of this movement.
July 9, 2022
Really hard to read at times. I had thankful tears for everyone that continues to come together to help make abortion a little more accessible. Then I had some angry tears because of the politicians and protesters who make life so much harder on people that need access to basic healthcare needs. I had no clue that clinics had this much protesting outside of them and how ruthless they could be.
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