Exploring Abortion Politics in 'The Doctor's Wife'

Elizabeth Brundage’s The Doctor’s Wife is a novel focusing mainly on abortion and the moral implications that go along with the topic. In my opinion, Brundage captures the opinion of both the pro-life and pro-choice groups of people fairly accurately, and represents these opinions in the novel’s characters in a respectful manner. This novel delves into one of the more taboo topics that people tend to avoid when it comes to American politics.
When permitted by local law, abortions are one of the safest procedures in medicine. The World Health Organization recommends safe and legal abortions be available to all women. Around 44 million abortions occur each year in the world, with a little under half done unsafely. Unsafe abortions could become a less prominent medical procedure in the United States if the laws were changed, allowing women to have abortions at a reputable clinic. However, many states in America have ruled that abortions are illegal, forcing women to find illegal and less safe places to obtain an abortion. Some women even attempt to cause themselves to miscarry, which can lead to very serious health problems.

“The hanging fluorescent lights move in the wind, squealing slightly on their hinges. He knows he’s paranoid- Comes with the territory, they told him when he’d first started at the clinic, and he’d been more than willing to accept that…” (Brundage, 9). In the novel, Michael is abducted as he is coming out of the women’s clinic he works at. Many OB-GYNs sometimes perform abortions at Planned Parenthood clinics without asking for payment because they just want to help the women who truly need it. These doctors and nurses don’t deserve the group of protesters that chant outside of what is supposed to be a safe place for