Some of the most contentious moral and social issues of today involve matters of life and death. Abortion and euthanasia are two such topics that are so very hotly debated and discussed. This is a companion piece to one that I just did on euthanasia, and the two articles share a common pro-life approach to these issues. See that other reading list here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2024/09/30/what-to-read-on-euthanasia-and-assisted-suicide/
There would be many hundreds, even thousands, of books out on the issue of abortion. Probably most of them would feature the pro-abortion case. As mentioned, I am here concerned to make the pro-life case, so the many volumes which I present in this list all come from that point of view.
Some are secular works while most come from a specifically Christian orientation. Some are lengthy and learned treatises while others are shorter and more popular level works. All make the case for life and the case against abortion on demand and the culture of death.
It will be recalled that this topic really burst on the scene big time back in 1973 when Roe v Wade, the US Supreme Court decision on abortion was handed down. That opened the floodgates on books dealing with this issue. Note that the earliest volume I have here, by Bajema, came out in 1974. Countless others have appeared since then of course.
Here then are 80 volumes that are well worth consulting on this matter:
Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothingby Anderson, Ryan T. (Author), DeSanctis, Alexandra (Author)
Anderson, John, Cry of the Innocents: Abortion and the Race Towards Judgement. Bridge Publishing, 1984.
Anderson, Ryan and Alexandra DeSanctis, Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing. Regnery, 2022.
Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, The Facts on Abortion. Harvest House Publishers, 1995.
Alcorn, Randy, Is Rescuing Right? InterVarsity Press, 1990.
Alcorn, Randy, Pro Life Answers To Pro Choice Questions. Multnomah Press, 1992, 2000.
Alcorn, Randy, Why Pro-Life? Multnomah Press, 2004.
Bachiochi, Erika, ed., The Cost of “Choice”. Encounter Books, 2004.
Bajema, Clifford, Abortion and the Meaning of Personhood. Baker Books, 1974.
Becker, Daniel, Personhood. TKS, 2011.
Beckwith, Francis, Abortion and the Sanctity of Human Life. College Press, 2023.
Beckwith, Francis, Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Beckwith, Francis, Politically Correct Death: Answering Arguments for Abortion Rights. Baker Books, 1993.
Belz, Mark, Suffer the Little Children. Crossway Books, 1989.
Bigliardi, Patricia, Beyond the Hidden Pain of Abortion. Women’s Aglow Fellowship, 1994.
Brown, Harold O. J., Death Before Birth. Thomas Nelson, 1977.
Bruchalski, John with Elise Daniel, Two Patients: My Conversion from Abortion to Life-Affirming Medicine. Ignatius, 2022.
Cameron, Nigel de S., and Pamela Simms, Abortion: The Crisis in Morals and Medicine. IVP, 1986.
Clowes, Brian, The Facts of Life. Human Life International, 1997.
Condon, Guy and David Hazard, Fatherhood Aborted: The Profound Effects of Abortion on Men. Tyndale House, 2001.
Davis, John Jefferson, Abortion and the Christian: What Every Believer Should Know. Presbyterian and Reformed, 1984.
D’Souza Gill, Danielle, The Choice: The Abortion Divide in America. Center Street, 2020.
Everett, Carol, The Scarlet Lady: Confessions of a Successful Abortionist. Wolgemuth and Hyatt, 1991.
Fisher, Brian, Abortion: The Ultimate Exploitation of Women. Morgan James, 2014.
Fisher, Brian, Deliver Us From Abortion. Brown Christian Press, 2015.
Folger, Janet, True to Life. Loyal Publishing, 2000.
Fowler, Paul, Abortion: Toward an Evangelical Consensus. Multnomah Press, 1987.
Garret, Debbie, Alarmist Gatekeeping: Abortion. 2021.
Garton, Jean, Who Broke the Baby? Bethany House, 1979.
George, Robert and Christopher Tollefsen, Embryo: A Defense of Human Life. Doubleday, 2008.
Giebink, Patti with Kimberly Shumate, Unexpected Choice: An Abortion Doctor’s Journey to Pro-Life. Focus on the Family, 2021.
Glessner, Thomas, Achieving an Abortion-Free America. Multnomah, 1990.
Gorman, Michael, Abortion and the Early Church. IVP, 1982.
Grant, George, Killer Angel: A Biography of Planned Parenthood’s Founder Margaret Sanger. Ars Vitae Press, 1995.
Grant, George, Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood. Wolgemuth and Hyatt, 1988.
Grant, George, Immaculate Deception: The Shifting Agenda of Planned Parenthood. Northfield, 1996.
Grant, George, The Quick and the Dead: RU-486 and the New Chemical Warfare Against Your Family. Crossway, 1992.
Grant, George, Third Time Around: A History of the Pro-Life Movement from the First Century to the Present. Wolgemuth and Hyatt, 1991.
Hayford, Jack, I’ll Hold You in Heaven. Regal, 1986.
Hensley, Jeff Lane, ed., The Zero People. Servant Books, 1983.
Johnson, Abby, Unplanned. SaltRiver, 2010.
Johnson, Abby with Kristin Detrow, The Walls Are Talking: Former Abortion Clinic Workers Tell Their Stories. Ignatius, 2018. Kaczor, Christopher, The Ethics of Abortion, 3rd ed. Routledge, 2011, 2022.
Klusendorf, Scott, The Case for Life. Crossway Books, 2009.
Koop, C. Everett, The Right To Live, the Right To Die. Tyndale House, 1976.
Kreeft, Peter, Three Approaches to Abortion. Ignatius Press, 2002.
Kreeft, Peter, The Unaborted Socrates. IVP, 1983.
Lee, Patrick, Abortion and the Unborn Human Life, 2nd ed. The Catholic University of America Press, 1996, 2010.
McCorvey, Norma, Won by Love: Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe of Roe V. Wade, Speaks Out for the Unborn as She Shares Her New Conviction for Life. Thomas Nelson, 1997.
Marshall, Robert and Charles Donovan, Blessed are the Barren: The Social Policy of Planned Parenthood. Ignatius, 1991.
Mathewes-Green, Frederica, Real Choices: Offering Practical, Life-Affirming Alternatives to Abortion. Multnomah Press, 1994.
Michels, Nancy, Helping Women Recover From Abortion. Bethany House, 1988.
Miller, Monica Migliorino, Abandoned: The Untold Stories of the Abortion Wars. Saint Benedict Press, 2012.
Morana, Janet, Recall Abortion. Saint Benedict Press, 2013.
Muehlenberg, Bill, The Challenge of Abortion. CreateSpace, 2015.
Nathanson, Bernard, Aborting America. Doubleday and Company, 1979.
Nathanson, Bernard, The Hand of God. Regnery, 1996.
Newman, Troy and Cheryl Sullenger, Abortion Free. WND Books, 2014.
Odell, Catherine and William, The First Human Right. Our Sunday Visitor Inc., 1983.
Ohden, Melissa with Cindy Lambert, Abortion Survivors Break Their Silence. Focus on the Family, 2024
Olasky, Marvin, Abortion at the Crosshairs: Three Paths Forward in the Struggle to Protect the Unborn. Bombardier Books, 2021. Olasky, Marvin, Abortion Rites. Crossway Books, 1992.
Olasky, Marvin and Leah Savas, The Story of Abortion in America: A Street-Level History, 1652–2022. Crossway, 2023.
Pavone, Frank, Abolishing Abortion. Thomas Nelson, 2015.
Reagan, Ronald, Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984.
Reardon, David, Aborted Women: Silent No More. Loyola University Press, 1987.
Reardon, David, Making Abortion Rare. Acorn Books, 1996.
Schlossberg, Terry and Elizabeth Achtemeier, Not My Own: Abortion and the Marks of the Church. Eerdmans, 1995.
Schwarz, Stephen, The Moral Question of Abortion. Loyola University Press, 1990.
Shaver, Jessica, Gianna:Aborted…and Lived to Tell About It. Focus on the Family, 1995.
Smith, F. LaGard, When Choice Becomes God. Harvest House Publishers, 1990.
Spitzer, Robert, Ten Universal Principles: A Brief Philosophy of the Life Issues. Ignatius, 2011.
Sproul, R. C., Abortion: A Rational Look at an Emotional Issue. Reformed Trust, 1990, 2010.
Swindoll, Charles, Sanctity of Life. Word, 1990.
Tankard-Reist, Melinda, Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics. Spinifex Press, 2006.
Tankard-Reist, Melinda, Giving Sorrow Words. Duffy and Snellgrove, 2000.
Terry, Randall, Accessory to Murder. Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1990.
Terry, Randall, Operation Rescue. Whitaker House, 1988.
Wagner, Teresa, ed., Back to the Drawing Board: The Future of the Pro-life Movement. St. Augustine’s Press, 2003.
Willke, Dr. & Mrs. J. C., Abortion, Questions and Answers. Hayes Publishing Company, 1988.
Young, Curt, The Least of These: What Everyone Should Know About Abortion. Moody Press, 1983, 1984.
It would be difficult to list some of the most preferred volumes, but let me single out some of the key authors found here: Alcorn, Beckwith, Everett, Grant, Kreeft, and Olsaky.
Hmmm. Mine would be all of Francis Beckwith’s books- he is such a skilled pro-life apologist, isn’t he?!; Robert George and Tollefson on the personhood of the embryo; Peter Kreeft’s The Unaborted Socrates; Frederica Matthews-Green; David Reardon’s Aborted Women, a classic for those concerned with women and post-abortion syndrome; and Melinda Tankard-Reist’s brilliant Defiant Birth, committed to justice for disabled unborn children and throughout the rest of their lifespan (especially treasured by me given that I have a granddaughter with osteogenesis imperfecta, now at university, who wasn’t aborted).
I don’t know about you, Bill, but sometimes I wonder about whether we’re assiduous enough in recording the history of the pro-life movement and whether we’re unintentionally losing insights from past figures within our movement. I’m not talking about the praiseworthy work of C.Everett Koop and President Reagan here, however justly valued over the decades. For example, what about Dr Mildred Jefferson, the first African-American woman to earn a degree from Harvard and first President of the US National Right to Life Committee? Or Alison Davies, a tireless British campaigner for the rights of disabled people from the womb to the end of life, against abortion, euthanasia and infanticide? Are we doing enough to preserve the wisdom and knowledge of the pro-life past so that we can learn from it?
Thanks Rhona, but you are evidently unfamiliar with the histories of the pro-life movement which I have featured here. Grant’s volume is over 200 pages long, while Olasky’s is over 500 pages in length. Both of course cover all the key figures, players and movements.
I had read Marvin Olasky’s work before, and I’ve got his latest on order at the local Christian bookshop. Perhaps I need to clarify the comment- I was thinking more large-scale anthologies collecting the writings of great pro-lifers of the past, rather than the admirable efforts of Messrs. Grant and Olasky, encyclopedic though the latter looks. And even in the cases of the better known figures too- wouldn’t you be interested in a C.Everett Koop reader, for instance? I know I would be. Think of it- a pro-life archive that provides book length references to the movement’s luminaries!
Hmmm. Mine would be all of Francis Beckwith’s books- he is such a skilled pro-life apologist, isn’t he?!; Robert George and Tollefson on the personhood of the embryo; Peter Kreeft’s The Unaborted Socrates; Frederica Matthews-Green; David Reardon’s Aborted Women, a classic for those concerned with women and post-abortion syndrome; and Melinda Tankard-Reist’s brilliant Defiant Birth, committed to justice for disabled unborn children and throughout the rest of their lifespan (especially treasured by me given that I have a granddaughter with osteogenesis imperfecta, now at university, who wasn’t aborted).
I don’t know about you, Bill, but sometimes I wonder about whether we’re assiduous enough in recording the history of the pro-life movement and whether we’re unintentionally losing insights from past figures within our movement. I’m not talking about the praiseworthy work of C.Everett Koop and President Reagan here, however justly valued over the decades. For example, what about Dr Mildred Jefferson, the first African-American woman to earn a degree from Harvard and first President of the US National Right to Life Committee? Or Alison Davies, a tireless British campaigner for the rights of disabled people from the womb to the end of life, against abortion, euthanasia and infanticide? Are we doing enough to preserve the wisdom and knowledge of the pro-life past so that we can learn from it?
Thanks Rhona, but you are evidently unfamiliar with the histories of the pro-life movement which I have featured here. Grant’s volume is over 200 pages long, while Olasky’s is over 500 pages in length. Both of course cover all the key figures, players and movements.
I had read Marvin Olasky’s work before, and I’ve got his latest on order at the local Christian bookshop. Perhaps I need to clarify the comment- I was thinking more large-scale anthologies collecting the writings of great pro-lifers of the past, rather than the admirable efforts of Messrs. Grant and Olasky, encyclopedic though the latter looks. And even in the cases of the better known figures too- wouldn’t you be interested in a C.Everett Koop reader, for instance? I know I would be. Think of it- a pro-life archive that provides book length references to the movement’s luminaries!