Janet Morana has written a powerhouse little book aimed at the audience that needs it most — American teenagers and young adults. This is the group relentlessly besieged by woke propaganda and peer pressure.

As we release this issue of Education Reporter, the egregious Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey decisions have been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, sending the contentious issue of abortion back to the states. Despite this long-awaited and wonderful pro-life victory, the culture of death remains a huge issue and the abortion industry will not go quietly. Already, nearly half of the 50 states are allowing abortion to continue; some with time limitations; others, like California, Colorado, Illinois, and some of the New England states, throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Therefore, this easy-to-read and engrossing book is more important than ever for changing minds and hearts.

Morana covers every aspect of the abortion issue, beginning with her own personal story of how she became involved in the pro-life movement. She grew up in a Catholic family during the 1950s and 1960s, but like so many Christians during that volatile period, she fell away from her faith. Some twenty years later she found her way back, and during her journey met one of the great up-and-coming leaders-of the pro-life movement, Fr. Frank Pavone. She joined Fr. Pavone's weekly Bible study group and soon found herself developing a relationship with Jesus. "That was the secret ingredient that I never had before," she writes, "a relationship with Jesus. Now I never want to miss Mass."

Morana co-founded the "Silent No More Awareness Campaign, an initiative that gives women a forum for publicly testifying to the negative impact that abortion has had on their lives." She was asked many times why, as a woman who'd never had an abortion, she felt compelled to involve herself in such an effort, and says she again had to come to grips with the fact that she had likely lost many children because of birth control pills. Her involvement with the campaign introduced her to other women who, like herself, had regrets as a result of contraception.

This book provides young people with an in-depth study of birth control methods and shows how they link to abortion. Morana's scientific description of how various contraceptives work and their potentially damaging side effects, is both informative and eye-opening.

The author describes the U.S. Supreme Court cases legalizing abortion on demand, and her detailed account is both absorbing and shocking, as neither of the central figures in these terrible decisions ever wanted an abortion. "Although Norma [McCorvey of Roe v. Wade fame] would never have an abortion," Morana writes, "her lawyer Sarah Weddington did, and that experience played a central role in opening the door to a decision that led to the deaths of now more than 62 million children.

"Attempts to terminate a pregnancy have been around since before the birth of Christ," she notes, "but it has always had a negative connotation. Only in recent times have people viewed abortion as a sacred right, or even something to be celebrated."

Sandra Cano, the plaintiff in Doe vs. Bolton, "had an even more chaotic life than Norma McCorvey," Morana writes. She was "taken under the wing of another lawyer looking to legalize abortion." Doe vs. Bolton was originally filed against a Georgia abortion law, using Cano as a plaintiff who had been denied an abortion in Atlanta. "Like so much of this case, the story of being turned away for an abortion was a lie made up by Sandra's legal team, who recognized in Sandra the same things Norma's lawyers had in Texas: these were women who could be manipulated."

The invented "right to privacy" was not only bad constitutional law, it was built entirely on lies. Morana writes: "The seven justices who voted in favor of legalizing abortion throughout pregnancy decided not to delve too deeply into science. If you would like to know why, I recommend you read The Fake and Deceptive Science Behind Roe v. Wade by Dr. Thomas Hilgers.

Everything You Need to Know provides a fascinating study of the wondrous and exciting development of new life in the womb as only the technological world of today can show us. The author describes how, at the time she gave birth to her own children, including a set of twins, people didn't know the sex of their babies until the day of delivery." She then treats the reader to a description of the unborn baby's journey from conception until birth, and her book includes a set of full-color photographs of the various stages of fetal development. "Ultrasound makes it hard for abortion supporters to argue that the unborn child is somehow not fully alive," she notes, adding: "If women are given a chance to see their babies on ultrasound, 80 percent choose life."

Morana debates every angle in the pro-abortion argument arsenal, from "women's right to choose," to rape and incest to fetal abnormalities, and the vague euphemism "health of the mother." She offers compelling evidence that none of these is sufficient reason to take the life of an unborn child, without sounding harsh or judgmental and always with the utmost zeal for preborn life.

The book also describes the barbarism of the abortion procedures themselves, including the pain the baby feels as well as the physical harm they often cause the mother. As Morana also shows, many of these mothers are very young and are compelled by parents, boyfriends, and occasionally even husbands to have the abortion they themselves may not really want.

Throughout the book, Morana weaves personal stories of the women and girls she has met over the years in her pro-life work, so that the entire story of abortion as the sordid, destructive, and divisive procedure it is becomes clear. This reviewer cannot imagine how Morana's story could fail to make an impression on any young person who reads it with an open mind.

In leaving no stone unturned, the author reminds readers that there are usually more victims in an abortion than the mother and baby. Many fathers suffer greatly over their partner's decision to end the life of their child. Then there are the grandparents, some of whom encourage the abortion, but many who suffer greatly over the loss of the grandchild they will never see. Morana shows that there is often a trail of victims who suffer for many years and even decades with guilt and regret over the enormity of these losses, whether they encouraged the abortion or not.

Finally, she delves into the issue of abortion in the cases of in-vitro fertilization, when multiple embryos are implanted in a woman's uterus. Sometimes, when more than one of the embryos successfully implant, a multiple pregnancy is created, but the parents choose to "keep" only one child. Often, the doctor is only too willing to end the life of one of the babies. To pro-life people, these practices seem barbaric and almost too hard to believe, yet Morana shows that they are not so unusual.

The book provides an appendix listing all the pro-life organizations that have labored many years to end the horror of abortion and which have supported and helped women who choose life as well as those who are experiencing post-abortive grief and loss. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, these organizations will doubtless continue to fight abortion in the states where it remains legal. Meanwhile, Everything You Need to Know About Abortion can only help to change minds and hearts.

The Education Reporter Book Review is a project of America’s Future, Inc. To find out more about America’s Future, visit AmericasFuture.net.

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