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sarakomo 's review for:
Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion
by Gabrielle Stanley Blair
2022: I was on board with close to 85% of this book.
I remember reading Blair's viral Twitter thread about abortions and unwanted pregnancies back when it was posted in 2018. I enjoyed how she reframed the conversation to revolve around how men cause all unwanted pregnancies, simply by the fact that every time they orgasm, they can cause a pregnancy. Men are fertile 365 days a year, whereas women are arguably only fertile during a small window of time each month. If you remember these two claims and the original Twitter thread, you're not missing much by reading the rest of this book.
I think this book provides a number of helpful arguments for my future conversations about abortions with people who are very religious. Blair states from the start of this book that she is a religious person, a Mormon with six kids, and she is still very pro-choice. However, her perspective is that she would like to decrease the number of abortions that happen. The basic premise of this book is "do you also want to reduce the number of abortions that happen in America everyday? Here are some ways to do that!" Unfortunately, this also involves her advocating for the benefits of the pull out method (sure, she realizes that it's hard to use the pull out method perfectly every single time you have sex. But it's still listed as a viable alternative to abortions.)
My personal goal would not be to reduce the number of abortions in the United States. My goal is to reduce the barriers that we as a society have introduced that limit access to abortions. But if I need to compromise on anything when it comes to abortion access, I am absolutely willing to increase the amount of information out there about how to prevent getting pregnant in the first place. I also agree with Blair's numerous claims about how much more men should care about birth control - vasectomies for everyone!
By the end of the book, Blair shares a source for every claim she's made in the book. So by that standard, I give this book a solid thumb's up. And if you're looking for talking points when discussing abortions with your religious friends and family who are in cishet relationships, this book will help. But that's about it.
I remember reading Blair's viral Twitter thread about abortions and unwanted pregnancies back when it was posted in 2018. I enjoyed how she reframed the conversation to revolve around how men cause all unwanted pregnancies, simply by the fact that every time they orgasm, they can cause a pregnancy. Men are fertile 365 days a year, whereas women are arguably only fertile during a small window of time each month. If you remember these two claims and the original Twitter thread, you're not missing much by reading the rest of this book.
I think this book provides a number of helpful arguments for my future conversations about abortions with people who are very religious. Blair states from the start of this book that she is a religious person, a Mormon with six kids, and she is still very pro-choice. However, her perspective is that she would like to decrease the number of abortions that happen. The basic premise of this book is "do you also want to reduce the number of abortions that happen in America everyday? Here are some ways to do that!" Unfortunately, this also involves her advocating for the benefits of the pull out method (sure, she realizes that it's hard to use the pull out method perfectly every single time you have sex. But it's still listed as a viable alternative to abortions.)
My personal goal would not be to reduce the number of abortions in the United States. My goal is to reduce the barriers that we as a society have introduced that limit access to abortions. But if I need to compromise on anything when it comes to abortion access, I am absolutely willing to increase the amount of information out there about how to prevent getting pregnant in the first place. I also agree with Blair's numerous claims about how much more men should care about birth control - vasectomies for everyone!
By the end of the book, Blair shares a source for every claim she's made in the book. So by that standard, I give this book a solid thumb's up. And if you're looking for talking points when discussing abortions with your religious friends and family who are in cishet relationships, this book will help. But that's about it.