All this talk about DIY abortions recalls me of Waterland by Graham Swift. I haven’t read it in years, but I vividly remember the abortion scene (in an old woman’s cabin, on a fen, involving herbs and sucking on a straw—and madness, death, and guilt). It’s a sad book, but it’s not partisan about abortion. I’m going to get another copy of the novel. I suggest you do the same, especially if you care anything at all about budding heterosexuality, young pregnancy, and the moral dilemmas they create.

And while we’re at it, how about Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”? It’s a heartbreaking sketch of a young American couple in Catalonia, drinking in a train station bar, on their way to an abortion in Madrid. (“‘It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in.’ The girl did not say anything.”) They think the abortion will restore something they’ve lost. Of course, they’re wrong.

“And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?”
“I love you now. You know I love you.”
“I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll like it?”

How many young American couples have a variation of that conversation this week alone?

Any other lit suggestions for the policymakers?