A compact, searching essay on a question that remains profoundly unresolved in human history: abortion. Giulia Galeotti traces its story with remarkable objectivity across centuries, religions, societies, and the development of science—and always against the backdrop of questions about women. What emerges is a constellation of viewpoints, each offering an ethical, legal, philosophical, or scientific lens through which to understand the limits and possibilities of this practice. It is thorny terrain. But for anyone willing to think it through carefully—to "form an idea," as the series title suggests—there is much here to deepen understanding.
The publisher Il Mulino has built a substantial catalog of books like this one, designed to help readers navigate what they call "the flood of stimuli, information, and claims we face every day. To read the newspaper, listen to the radio, watch television more actively—to interpret events with greater awareness."
Cristina Tersigni, 2004