I interviewed scores of people over the course of this project, taping some conversations and taking copious notes in all cases. For the sake of readability, I’ve related some of these encounters as dialogues, complete with quotation marks. Although the ideas and words I use are faithful to the speaker’s comments, as recorded in my notes, the dialogues themselves are not direct quotes nor should they be read as such. (Original interview notes from Marina, and from all others mentioned in this book, are on file with the author.)
In this book, I refer to people by the terms they use to describe themselves. I do so out of courtesy for their integrity, and also because I do not think it is constructive to wage a battle over abortion by name-calling. For this reason, I use the terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice,” rather than the terms each side often uses when referencing the other.