Dr. Willie Parker’s new book, Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice, has been everywhere recently—on The Daily Show, on the back of Time magazine, and at a book party with Gloria Steinem. But I think the most important place his words have been so far is in a room with me, taking care of a patient, at 3 a.m.

What patients want is moral language, language that will help them grapple with the deeply meaningful and ethical questions that their medical decisions present. Western medicine does not have moral language. But Dr. Willie Parker does [...] and he is skilled at making it medically relevant. For me that use of language was not just new; it was a revelation.

- Chavi Eve Karkowski, Slate

 

In Life’s Work, an outspoken, Christian reproductive justice advocate and abortion provider (one of the few doctors to provide such services to women in Mississippi and Alabama) pulls from his personal and professional journeys as well as the scientific training he received as a doctor to reveal how he came to believe, unequivocally, that helping women in need, without judgment, is precisely the Christian thing to do.

Dr. Willie Parker grew up in the Deep South, lived in a Christian household, and converted to an even more fundamentalist form of Christianity as a young man. But upon reading an interpretation of the Good Samaritan in a sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he realized that in order to be a true Christian, he must show compassion for all women regardless of their needs. In 2009, he stopped practicing obstetrics to focus entirely on providing safe abortions for the women who need help the most—often women in poverty and women of color—and in the hot bed of the pro-choice debate: the South. He soon thereafter traded in his private practice and his penthouse apartment in Hawaii for the life of an itinerant abortion provider, focusing most recently on women in the Deep South.

In Life’s Work, Dr. Willie Parker tells a deeply personal and thought-provoking narrative that illuminates the complex societal, political, religious, and personal realities of abortion in the United States from the unique perspective of someone who performs them and defends the right to do so every day. He also looks at how a new wave of anti-abortion activism, aimed at making incremental changes in laws and regulations state by state, are slowly chipping away at the rights of women to control their own lives. In revealing his daily battle against mandatory waiting periods and bogus rules governing the width of hallways, Dr. Parker uncovers the growing number of strings attached to the right to choose and makes a powerful Christian case for championing reproductive rights.

Praise

  • "It says something deep about Life's Work and its author, Dr. Willie Parker, that you learn first not about him, but the women he serves as patients. As a poor southern boy who became a great doctor, he shows how race and sex bias limit and kill, how possible it is to undo that bias with kindness, and how Christianity might actually include women. I wish everyone in America would read this book."
    — Gloria Steinem
  • “At Planned Parenthood, our motto is ‘care, no matter what’—words that might as well have been written with Dr. Willie Parker in mind. At a moment when reproductive health and rights are under attack like never before, Dr. Parker's book is a beacon of hope and a call to action. In it, he transcends politics and cliché to show readers the world through the eyes of a doctor who approaches his work with humility, compassion, and defiance. Life's Work is inspiring, surprising, and very much needed. This book will change lives.”
    — Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America
  • “Dr. Willie Parker shares with readers in his powerful and insightful memoir, Life’s Work, that ‘the abortion clinic, is a woman’s world.’ With keen insight and passion, he allows us to see that world through the eyes of a compassionate, caring male doctor, one who loves justice, who cares about female agency, who embraces gender equality, who believes women should have access to reproductive justice and that includes abortion. Whether or not you are pro-abortion or anti-abortion, this is a book that everyone should read. It offers us a clear and compassionate understanding of what all woman and girls face as we claim our rights to make decisions about our bodies.”
    — bell hooks
  • “Dr. Willie Parker’s compassion and respect for his patients, as well as his profound commitment to social justice, shine through this beautifully written memoir. This book puts to rest the notion that a deeply held religious faith is incompatible with a staunch support for legal and accessible abortion. Life’s Work will be an eye-opener for those not familiar with the fortitude required to be an abortion provider in the contemporary United States, especially in the South. For those already committed to reproductive justice, Dr. Parker’s account of his journey will serve as a much-needed source of renewed inspiration, as this beleaguered field faces new challenges in the Trump era.”
    — Carole Joffe, author, Dispatches from the Abortion Wars: The Costs of Fanaticism to Doctors, Patients and the Rest of Us; professor, Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, University of California, San Francisco
  • “With strong ethical arguments and firm moral footing, Parker calls on the words of Dr. King and the legacy of the civil rights movement to right himself in searching times; advocates tirelessly for women; and tells their stories here, paying special attention to often underserved women in poverty and women of color. […] Readers […] will find his perspective uniquely informed, extraordinarily empathic, and faith-deepened.”
    Booklist starred review
  • “Throughout, Parker writes without irony on the depth and authenticity of his own Christian belief, which he insists allows for his medical practice, especially as a means of providing health care to underprivileged women. Valuable as both moral testimonial and as a medical memoir and sure to inspire heat as well as light.”
    Kirkus
  • “A compelling memoir…a must-read for policymakers, reproductive-rights activists and anyone who’s had trouble articulating their support for a woman’s right to choose.”
    Ms. Magazine
  • “Dr. Parker’s story is a wonderful account of how his belief and faith in both God and in humanity has led him to provide abortion: a medical service that is chastised by some as the evil. He explains in the most compelling way how, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s telling of the story of the Good Samaritan, he has felt unable to turn away from women in need of help. Dr. Parker is a hero of our movement and, as a truly compassionate Christian advocate of women’s choice. I challenge everyone who believes that abortion doctors must be ‘bad’ and immoral, or self-interested and profiteering, or privileged and exploitative, to read this book. Dr. Parker speaks from his heart and his words can’t fail to touch the heart of every reader.”
    — Ann Furedi, author of The Moral Case for Abortion and CEO of British Pregnancy Advisory Service
  • “…the most crucial text we have on the subject of choice…read Dr. Parker's book cover to cover and then pass it on, so that we're all prepared for the next moral argument with grace and power.”
    — Lena Dunham for Lenny Letter

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