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Life's Work  By  cover art

Life's Work

By: Dr. Willie Parker, Lisa Miller
Narrated by: Caz Harleaux
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Publisher's summary

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 hotbed 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.

©2017 Dr. Willie Parker (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Featured Article: The 10 Best Blog Moments of 2022


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Excellent Listen

I saw Dr. Parker on The Daily Show and was inspired by his interview to hear his book. I was not disappointed.

The Doctor champions mindfulness while lifting the issue of women's agency over their own bodies to new visible heights.

Dr. Parker walks you down the path that he walked, opening his heart and mind so the you too might understand and share his passion and compassion for Choice.

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4 people found this helpful

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Loved it, listened twice.

I will probably listen a 3rd time in the future. I am not religious, this book showed me a version of religion that doesn't make my skin crawl. I learned endlessly about the world of abortion as health care. I am in awe of Dr. Parker's clarity and intellect. Can't say enough good things about the inner dialogue that I had the pleasure of experiencing thanks to this book.

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3 people found this helpful

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  • 06-26-22

Amazing!

I love everything about this book! My only issue is that once or twice during the book the audio very obviously changes. As if they had to re-record certain paragraphs and it was just very odd to hear for a few seconds.

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1 person found this helpful

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Just what we need

I refused to stop listening to this until I was done, then went out and bought a hardback copy to keep for both personal reference and sharing.
I know many people would frown at this choice of word, but Dr. Parker is my hero.

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This man is a hero

I really appreciated reading this from the perspective of a Christian man. Dr. Parker is a shining example that it's possible to value your faith without shunning science or imposing your beliefs on other people, and I respect that, and I'm grateful for the work that he does. I'm happy to have learned more from this book than I expected; I knew a lot of it would be a reiteration of facts and opinions I'm very familiar with, but I was pleasantly surprised to have gained deeper insight into reproductive science. His devotion to this cause is really inspiring and I recommend this book to anyone who wants to educate themselves about the topic of abortion.

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Career changing book

Dr Parker is an inspiration and puts into words many of my thoughts as a Christian OBGYN.

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Radical activist attempting to disguise himself as rational actor

Author didn’t even attempt to take on any substantial pro-life positions and instead resorted to straw men and demonization. Truly learned nothing new from book that I haven’t already learned from mainstream pro choice radicals. Author seems to think he’s some messiah for women bc he provides a service for them that he will not judge them for asking for. Wholly lacking in nuance or sophistication and does not even give credence to the fact that there are legions of grey area when it comes to the debate but instead casts “antis” as he calls pro lifers, as religious, anti science, prejudice zealots. Bad faith actor trying to come across as rational man of the downtrodden. Pfft pleaeeese

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For all who have any opinion on abortion

This is a great book for all who find they have an opinion on abortion. There are great talking points throughout and you can tell the author truly cares about dignity for life.

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Amazing book!

I loved this book! I like the way the author thinks and has grown in his career and landed in a place where he can write this beautiful book. Thank you, Dr. Parker!

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A must-read. Informative, thorough, spiritual.

Well-presented, good depth and breadth including cited facts from history, politics, religion and science.

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