Top 12 Pro-Life Books Everyone Should Read

Looking for some quality reading material to further your pro-life education, brush up on pro-life history or be inspired to go out onto your campus and make abortion unthinkable? We already had a list of great books but we wanted to add some others and poll our staff for their suggestions on the must-read pro-life books of today.

So here’s our top pro-life books to get you inspired and make you smarter. So grab one, cozy up into a comfy chair and get reading.

40 Days for Life: Discover What God Has Done…Imagine What He Can Do
By David Bereit, Shawn Carney, and Cindy Lambert
Beginning with one hour of prayer in Texas in 2004, the groundbreaking 40 Days for Life
movement of prayer and fasting, peaceful vigils, and community outreach has mobilized more than half a million volunteers in 481 cities around the world. Nearly 7,000 babies have been spared from abortion. 75 abortion workers have had a change of heart and quit their jobs. 25 abortion centers have closed. And every baby, every changed heart, every closure is an amazing story. This book contains forty of those stories: Hearts changed on the most controversial issue in our culture Babies and mothers spared from abortion at the last possible second Shocking secrets from inside the abortion industry revealed Abortion workers experiencing a change of heart and quitting their jobs Thriving abortion facilities shutting down for good

A Defense of Abortion
By David Boonin
The central thesis of philosopher David Boonin is that the moral case against abortion can be shown to be unsuccessful on terms that critics of abortion can and do accept. Critically examining a wide array of arguments that have attempted to establish that every human fetus has a right to life, Boonin posits that all of these arguments fail on their own terms. He then argues that even if the fetus does have a right to life, abortion can still be shown to be morally permissible on the critic of abortion’s own terms. Finally, Boonin considers a number of arguments against abortion that do not depend on the claim that the fetus has a right to life, including those based on the golden rule, considerations of uncertainty and a commitment to certain feminist principles, and asserts that these positions, too, are ultimately unsuccessful. The result is the most thorough and detailed case for the moral permissibility of abortion that has yet been written.

Abuse of Discretion: The Inside Story of Roe v. Wade
By Clarke D. Forsythe
Based on 20 years of research, including an examination of the papers of eight of the nine Justices who voted in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, Abuse of Discretion is a
critical review of the behind-the-scenes deliberations that went into the Supreme Court’s abortion decisions and how the mistakes made by the Justices in 1971-1973 have led to the turmoil we see today in legislation, politics, and public health. The first half of the book looks at the mistakes made by the Justices, based on the case files, the oral arguments, and the Justices’ papers. The second half of the book critically examines the unintended consequences of the abortion decisions in law, politics, and women’s health. Why do the abortion decisions remain so controversial after almost 40 years, despite more than 50,000,000 abortions, numerous presidential elections, and a complete turnover in the Justices? Why did such a sweeping decision—with such important consequences for public health, producing such prolonged political turmoil—come from the Supreme Court in 1973?

Courageous: Students Abolishing Abortion in This Lifetime
By Kristan Hawkins
Everyday in America, pro-life students are ending abortion. The young people of this generation have survived abortion and have dedicated their lives to ending the greatest human rights tragedy our world has ever known. Yet, their stories, which are real and messy, won’t make the news headlines. However, they must be told. It will be their stories that inspire and encourage others to join with us to abolish abortion in our lifetime.

 

Hand of God: A Journey from Death to Life by The Abortion Doctor Who Changed His Mind 
By Dr. Bernard Nathanson
He presided over 61,000 abortions—one of which was suffered by his then-girlfriend—
and directed the largest abortion clinic in the world. He had helped to legalize abortion in the first place. One day, he had a change of heart. One day, he found God. At the drop of a hat, an abortion doctor renounced his profession—and his atheism—for pro-life advocacy and Christianity. In the most shocking revelations ever expressed in an autobiography, one man unveils his entire life story, detailing countless events—from his gruesome abortion procedures to his conversion and involvement in The Silent Scream. Discover one man’s incredible journey from death to life in Bernard Nathanson’s The Hand of God.

 

Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments
By Randy Alcorn
As politicians, citizens, and families continue the raging national debate on whether it’s
proper to end human life in the womb, resources like Randy Alcorn’s Prolife Answers to Prochoice Arguments have proven invaluable. With over 75,000 copies in print, this revised and updated guide offers timely information and inspiration from a “sanctity of life” perspective. Real answers to real questions about abortion appear in logical and concise form. The final chapter — “Fifty Ways to Help Unborn Babies and Their Mothers”– is worth the price of this book alone!

 

 

Subverted: How I Helped the Sexual Revolution Hijack the Women’s Movement
By Sue Ellen Browder
Contraception and abortion were not originally part of the 1960s women’s movement.
How did the women’s movement, which fought for equal opportunity for women in education and the workplace, and the sexual revolution, which reduced women to ambitious sex objects, become so united? In Subverted, Sue Ellen Browder documents for the first time how it all happened, in her own life and in the life of an entire country. Trained at the University of Missouri School of Journalism to be an investigative journalist, Browder unwittingly betrayed her true calling and became a propagandist for sexual liberation. As a long-time freelance writer for Cosmopolitan magazine, she wrote pieces meant to soft-sell unmarried sex, contraception, and abortion as the single woman’s path to personal fulfillment. She did not realize until much later that propagandists higher and cleverer than herself were influencing her thinking and her personal choices as they subverted the women’s movement.

Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions
By Greg Koukl
In a world increasingly indifferent to Christian truth, followers of Christ need to be equipped to communicate with those who do not speak their language or accept their source of authority. Gregory Koukl demonstrates how to get in the driver’s seat, keeping any conversation moving with thoughtful, artful diplomacy. You’ll learn how to maneuver comfortably and graciously through the minefields, stop challengers in their tracks, turn the tables and—most importantly—get people thinking about Jesus. Soon, your conversations will look more like diplomacy than D-Day. Drawing on extensive experience defending Christianity in the public square, Koukl shows you how to: – Initiate conversations effortlessly – Present the truth clearly, cleverly, and persuasively – Graciously and effectively expose faulty thinking – Skillfully manage the details of dialogue – Maintain an engaging, disarming style even under attack Tactics provides the game plan for communicating the compelling truth about Christianity with confidence and grace.

The Ethics of Abortion: Women’s Rights, Human Life, and the Question of Justice
By Christopher Kaczor
Appealing to reason rather than religious belief, this book is the most comprehensive case against the choice of abortion yet published. This Second Edition of The Ethics of Abortion critically evaluates all the major grounds for denying fetal personhood, including the views of those who defend not only abortion but also post-birth abortion. It also provides several (non-theological) justifications for the conclusion that all human beings, including those in utero, should be respected as persons. This book also critiques the view that abortion is not wrong even if the human fetus is a person. The Ethics of Abortion examines hard cases for those who are prolife, such as abortion in cases of rape or in order to save the mother’s life, as well as hard cases for defenders of abortion, such as sex selection abortion and the rationale for being “personally opposed” but publically supportive of abortion. It concludes with a discussion of whether artificial wombs might end the abortion debate. Answering the arguments of defenders of abortion, this book provides reasoned justification for the view that all intentional abortions are ethically wrong and that doctors and nurses who object to abortion should not be forced to act against their consciences.

The Making of Pro-Life Activists: How Social Movement Mobilization Works
By Ziad Munson
How do people become activists for causes they care deeply about? Many people with similar backgrounds, for instance, fervently believe that abortion should be illegal, but
only some of them join the pro-life movement. By delving into the lives and beliefs of activists and nonactivists alike, Ziad W. Munson is able to lucidly examine the differences between them. Through extensive interviews and detailed studies of pro-life organizations across the nation, Munson makes the startling discovery that many activists join up before they develop strong beliefs about abortion—in fact, some are even pro-choice prior to their mobilization. Therefore, Munson concludes, commitment to an issue is often a consequence rather than a cause of activism.

 

Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader’s Eye-Opening Journey across the Life Line
By Abby Johnson
Abby Johnson quit her job in October 2009. That simple act became a national news
story because Abby was the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas who, after participating in an actual abortion procedure for the first time, walked down the street to join the Coalition for Life. Unplanned is a heart-stopping personal drama of life-and-death encounters, a courtroom battle, and spiritual transformation that speaks hope and compassion into the political controversy that surrounds this issue. Telling Abby’s story from both sides of the abortion clinic property line, this book is a must-read for anyone who cares about the life versus rights debate and helping women who face crisis pregnancies.

 

Viability
By Mike Fichter
A groundbreaking analysis of seven key fundamentals for a thriving pro-life movement that is built for long-term effectiveness.