"The Illegal Days"
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/books/review/red-clocks-leni-zumas.html

I think women died all the time when abortions were illegal. The horrible abortions were one way; the other way was the refusal of institutions - medical, church, and state - to care for you, their willingness to let you die. (18)

These men who run at the clinics...are point men who make the noise and the false, hypocritical statements about human life, which they don't much care about, really. What they really want to do is take back ownership of women's bodies. (19)

As much as Grace Paley was a defining voice in the American short story in the second half of the 20th century, she was perhaps even more well-known at the time as an advocate for social justice, a peace activist, a feminist, an anti-nuclear protester, a defender of those downtrodden by patriarchal forces in American business and politics, and a really nice grandmother. Whether it was joining with other women to safeguard music in a local park, or participating in a sit-in in order to block the development of two nuclear power stations, or travelling to North Vietnam in 1968 and returning with three captured American pilots, Grace Paley was there. It’s astonishing to discover just how often she was present at events, giving a voice to issues through her pen, fighting the good fight. Raised in a Jewish socialist household in New York City, she survived the Great Depression, World War II, the birth of the anti-war movement during the Vietnam war, and was still there on the scene raising her honest voice of protest during the first Gulf War. Yet the collection of articles, forewords, introductions, speeches, recollections, and poems collected here will simply reaffirm for the reader her absolute commitment to truth in writing. Her ever-distinctive voice entices with humour and good grace. You can’t help but wish you had known her yourself. And maybe, through her short stories, poetry, and these pieces, you really have.

Recommended. ( )