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ABORTION Sage-femme Collective, NATURAL LIBERTY: REDISCOVERING SELF-INDUCED ABORTION METHODS. Sage-femme, 2008. 453p. pap., $34.00, ISBN 9780964592001.
The title alone, Natural Liberty: Rediscovering Self-Induced Abortion Methods, makes a bold statement about women's reproductive rights. The wealth of knowledge that the work promises by advertising such a compelling title is indeed exactly what one finds. An anonymous ensemble of researchers, herbalists, and reproductive rights advocates known as the Sage-femme Collective has gathered both historical and scientific documentation on natural abortion in order to provide women with accurate and contemporary facts, especially when professional services are not provided. They reason that without access to legal clinical or medical abortion, women often turn to self-induced methods that can be extremely unsafe and even fatal. Thousands of women die every year from attempting to perform them, and for women who are not educated about the risks associated with natural methods or given the choice to use the safest forms of abortion, the risk of injury or death increases. By encouraging discussion on this significant and ongoing chapter in women's history, the Sage-femme Collective endeavors...