MixedSlateThe book, which is deeply reported and beautifully written, wants readers with all kinds of beliefs about abortion to step back and think about one another as people ... Prager’s book presents us with a painstakingly detailed account of McCorvey’s life, her exploitation by the pro-choice and anti-abortion movements, as well as her inability and refusal to fulfill the expectations and desires of those on either side of the debate ... The queerness of Roe’s history is one of the more unexpected themes of this book ... Yet even as The Family Roe sheds new light on Roe’s history, Prager makes some serious omissions. In a work of nearly 700 pages, there is no mention of the organizing of women of color ... most of all, the book suffers from the delusion that this rift in American society over abortion can be healed by combatants’ willingness to recognize the humanity of those on the other side ... By showing McCorvey in all her unruly and unappealing complexity, Prager powerfully refutes the idea that women should have to win a morality contest in order to \'deserve\' access to abortion ... The Family Roe may help us better understand those who were intimately involved with Roe v. Wade in the past, but it has little to offer in our present.
