Sign-In
Cart
Given No Choice: A History of Abortion Rights
Paperback
General Political ScienceWomen's Studies
Publisher Price: $22.99
Publisher: Cody McDevitt
Published: Dec 4 2025
Pages: 416
Weight: 1.22
Height: 0.85 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
A sweeping narrative history of abortion rights in America - from whispered remedies and underground networks to the legal battles, activists, and political forces that shaped modern reproductive freedom.
For more than a century, the fight for abortion access has been told in fragments - court cases, headlines, protests, and political battles that rarely capture the human story underneath. Given No Choice brings those pieces together. Drawing on archival research, rare interviews, oral histories, legislative transcripts, and firsthand accounts, Cody McDevitt weaves an urgent, intimate, and deeply human history of how abortion rights were won, lost, and defended across generations.
From midwives and discreet physicians operating in the shadows, to the women forced into dangerous decisions, to the organizers and attorneys who risked livelihoods to challenge the law, this book lays bare the truth: abortion in America has never been just a medical issue - it has always been a struggle for autonomy, dignity, and power.
Inside this groundbreaking book, readers will discover:
- The hidden networks that allowed women to access abortions long before Roe v. Wade
- How politicians, judges, and religious movements reshaped reproductive law
- The real stories of women harmed - and sometimes saved - by the choices available to them
- The rise of the anti-abortion movement and the strategies it still uses today
- Exclusive interviews with doctors, activists, and legal experts who witnessed the fight firsthand
- What the post-Roe landscape reveals about the future of reproductive freedom
1 different editions
Also available
Also from
McDevitt, Cody
Pittsburgh Drinks: A History of Cocktails, Nightlife & Bartending Tradition
McDevitt, Cody
Enright, Sean
Hardcover
Also in
Women's Studies
Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work: The Rise of Womens Political Culture, 1830-1900
Sklar, Kathryn Kish
Paperback
Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives
Cordingly, David
Paperback
Come as You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life
Nagoski, Emily
Paperback
Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us about the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Paperback
Dopamine Kids: A Science-Based Plan to Rewire Your Child's Brain and Take Back Your Family in the Age of Screens and Ultraprocessed Foods
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Hardcover
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
Estés, Clarissa Pinkola
Paperback
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
Estés, Clarissa Pinkola
Paperback
Unreasonable Women: Three Stories of Violence, Imprisonment, and Extraordinary Survival
Van Der Leun, Justine
Hardcover
P Fkn R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance
Rivera-Rideau, Petra R.
Díaz, Vanessa
Paperback
The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic
Stewart, Lindsey
Hardcover
Sacred Pampering Principles: An African-American Woman's Guide to Self-Care and Inner Renewal
Gandy, Debrena Jackson
Paperback
Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care
Kaba, Mariame
Hayes, Kelly
Paperback
Liberation Summer: The Moment That Changed the Women's Movement and the Future of American Politics
McElya, Micki
Hardcover
How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women
Venditozzi, Zoe
Mitchell, Claire
Paperback
How to Raise an Emotionally Mature Child: Your Blueprint to a Lifetime of Happiness and Success for Your Child
Gibson, Lindsay C., PsyD
Hardcover
Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves
Gilbert, Sophie
Paperback
Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How It Affects Us All
Bates, Laura
Paperback
The Women's History of the Modern World: How Radicals, Rebels, and Everywomen Revolutionized the Last 200 Years
Miles, Rosalind
Paperback
Good Daughtering: The Work You've Always Done, the Credit You've Never Gotten, and How to Finally Feel Like Enough
Alford Phd, Allison M.
Hardcover
The Woman They Could Not Silence: The Shocking Story of a Woman Who Dared to Fight Back
Moore, Kate
Paperback
The Goddess That Failed: Feminism's Unending War against Men, Families, and Civilization Itself
Fiamengo, Janice
Paperback
Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves
Gilbert, Sophie
Hardcover
If Women Rose Rooted: A Life-Changing Journey to Authenticity and Belonging
Blackie, Sharon
Paperback
Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
Serano, Julia
Paperback
Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence
Ghodsee, Kristen R.
Paperback
Liliana's Invincible Summer (Pulitzer Prize Winner): A Sister's Search for Justice
Rivera Garza, Cristina
Paperback
The New Age of Sexism: How AI and Emerging Technologies Are Reinventing Misogyny
Bates, Laura
Hardcover
Mommy Burnout: How to Reclaim Your Life and Raise Healthier Children in the Process
Ziegler, Sheryl Gonzalez
Paperback
Femmephilia: Love Letters to Trans Mermaids, Queer Mothers, and Marilyn Monroe
Lewis, Sophie
Paperback
In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial
Chollet, Mona
Paperback
Sex and Dissent: Stories of Feminist Resistance in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Spain
Beatley, Meaghan
Paperback
It's Not Hysteria: Everything You Need to Know about Your Reproductive Health (But Were Never Told)
Tang, Karen
Paperback
For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color
Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, Prisca
Paperback
The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity
Burke Harris, Nadine
Paperback
The Sexual Politics of Meat - 35th Anniversary Edition: A Feminist-Vegan Critical Theory
Adams, Carol J.
Paperback
Pcos SOS: A Gynecologist's Lifeline To Naturally Restore Your Rhythms, Hormones, and Happiness
Gersh, Felice
Perella, Alexis
Paperback
For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran's Women-Led Uprising
Tabrizy, Nilo
Jamalpour, Fatemeh
Hardcover
The Girl Who Baptized Herself: How a Lost Scripture about a Saint Named Thecla Reveals the Power of Knowing Our Worth
Watterson, Meggan
Hardcover
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
Estés, Clarissa Pinkola
Hardcover
Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation
Brown, Adrienne Maree
Paperback
The Book That Taught the World to Orgasm and Then Disappeared: Shere Hite and the Hite Report
Campbell, Rosa
Hardcover
The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey Into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
Paperback
Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us about the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Hardcover
All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us about Women's Bodies and Why It Matters Today
Comen, Elizabeth
Hardcover
The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better
Winthrop, Rebecca
Anderson, Jenny
Paperback
Against the State: Anarchists and Comrades at War in Spain, Myanmar, and Rojava
Stout, James
Paperback
Tangled: Seven Iconic Moments in White Women's Hair and What They Tell Us about Power, Pleasure, and Complicity
Mesle, Sarah
Hardcover
When Women Get Sick: An Empowering Approach for Getting the Support You Need
Bloom, Rebecca
Hardcover
The Problem with Pretty: Beauty, Bias and the Surprising Science of Good Looks
Powell-Hicks, Allycin
Hardcover
Go Play: How Parents Can Empower Kids to Build Their Own Worlds
Fox, Kate Allen
Gorback, Gennie, M. Ed
Paperback
White Women: Everything You Already Know about Your Own Racism and How to Do Better
Jackson, Regina
Rao, Saira
Paperback
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects
Wollstonecraft, Mary
Paperback
A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher
Paperback
No Visible Bruises: What We Don't Know about Domestic Violence Can Kill Us
Snyder, Rachel Louise
Paperback
The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight
Ackmann, Martha
Paperback
Our Diaries, Ourselves: How Diarists Chronicle Their Lives and Document Our World
Rubiner, Betsy
Hardcover
God Bless the Pill: The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion
Mehta, Samira K.
Paperback
Embracing the Old Witch in the Woods: Liberating Feminine Wisdom from Christian Patriarchy
Herrington, Angela J.
Harris, Shannon
Paperback
The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet
Thomas, Leah
Hardcover