A writer's job is to imagine everything so personally that the fiction is as vivid as memories.
John IrvingRead
Because abortions are illegal, women who need and want them have no choice in the matter, and you-because you know how to perform them-have no choice, either
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the lack of choice and autonomy faced by women regarding abortion in a context where it is illegal.
In this quote, John Irving emphasizes the profound consequences of making abortions illegal, suggesting that it strips women of their bodily autonomy and the ability to make personal choices. Moreover, it also implicates those who can perform abortions, indicating that societal and legal restrictions impact not just the women needing the procedure, but also the healthcare providers and their ethical responsibilities.
Themes
AbortionChoiceWomen'S RightsAutonomyEthics
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about women's rights during a public lecture.
More from John Irving
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It's not very interesting to establish sympathy for people who, on the surface, are instantly sympathetic. I guess I'm always attracted to people who, if their lives were headlines in a newspaper, you might not be very sympathetic about them.
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It is an important distinction to note that she looked not only as if she had taken good care of herself, but that she had good reason to have done so. (...) She looked to be in such total possession of her life that only the most confident men could continue to look at her if she looked back at them. Even in bus stations, she was a woman who was stared at only until she looked back.
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I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice. Not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God. I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.
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I will tell you what is my overriding perception of the last twenty years: that we are a civilization careening toward a succession of anticlimaxes β toward an infinity of unsatisfying, and disagreeable endings.
John IrvingRead
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