Frederica Mathewes-Green is the author of the famous quote:

“No woman wants an abortion like she wants an ice cream cone or a Porsche. She wants an abortion like an animal caught in a trap wants to gnaw off its own leg.”

This week on Cradle My Heart Radio we spoke with her about the inspiration for that memorable analogy–and the surprising way it was first circulated and popularized by those who supported advancing abortion as a woman’s right.

Frederica is most certainly not in favor of abortion as problem-solving. But over two decades ago she began sounding the alarm that women need real choice when facing a surprise pregnancy. She found that women who choose abortion lack critical social support. Her research led her to believe that women most often choose abortion in order to protect some other important relationship, and most would prefer to not have chosen it at all.

Today Frederica still advocates for finding common ground as the way out of the abortion wars and into shared solutions to save women from a choice no one should ever have to make.

Highlight – No woman wants an abortion . . .

No woman wants an abortion . . .

An excerpt from Frederica’s bio:

Frederica Mathewes-Green is a wide-ranging author, whose work has appeared in dozens of publications  such as the Washington Post, Christianity Today, Smithsonian, and the Wall Street Journal. She has been a regular commentator for outlets such as National Public Radio (NPR), on Morning Edition and All Things Considered; a columnist and writer of book and movie reviews.

She has published 10 books. Among her over 700 published essays were those selected for Best Christian Writing in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006, and Best Spiritual Writing in 1998 and 2007. She has also appeared as a speaker over 500 times, at places like Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. She has been interviewed almost 700 times, on venues including NPR, PBS, CNN, NBC, Fox News, and by Time, Newsweek, the New Republic, USA Today, and the New York Times.

She lives with her husband, the Rev. Gregory Mathewes-Green, in Baltimore, MD, where he is pastor and she is “Khouria” (“Mother”) of the parish they founded, Holy Cross Orthodox Church. Their three children are grown and married, and they now have thirteen grandchildren. Since 1997, Frederica has been recording books for the blind with the Radio Reading Network of Maryland.