JODI PICOULT:
the bestselling author talks politics
Her books fly off the shelves, but could her latest novel alienate some of her fans? Author Jodi Picoult tells Wendyl Nissen why she tackled the topic of abortion, how her rigorous research affected her own views and what she believes her role is as a writer.
When best-selling author Jodi Picoult set out to write her latest book, A Spark of Light, she had no idea the theme of the novel would resonate so strongly with current political issues in her home country. The book was released as the United States Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh – described as a conservative “pro-life poster boy” – faced questions about his stance on abortion and reproductive rights.
“That was obviously surprising to me,” says Jodi, “and yet it also reinforced for me why I wrote this story, because in America women’s voices don’t matter. Women’s stories don’t matter and when you don’t speak up men create a narrative of shame, saying things like, ‘You had this coming to you, this is your fault, you knew
better.’ Those are the things we hear a lot around reproductive rights. And victims are constantly demeaned. It’s really important to recognise that women matter. We are not second-class citizens… period.”
Jodi is extremely passionate about the central theme of her new book, which details what happens on the day an abortion clinic is attacked by a lone gunman and several people taken hostage, including the daughter of the hostage negotiator.
As a writer, Jodi often tackles important issues, including the death penalty, mercy killing, stem cell research, what it means to believe in God or not believe in God, the right to die, gay rights and racism. And to do this she will conduct rigorous research such as, for this book, talking to 151 women who had had abortions.
“I went on Twitter and said: ‘If you have terminated a pregnancy and are willing to speak to me, please respond.’ Within 10 minutes I had over 150 women respond. When you know the statistics, that one in four women will have an abortion, that is not extraordinary, but what is extraordinary is that they agreed to answer a long, thoughtful questionnaire and speak to me. They allowed me into what was a very important and private decision in their lives,” she says.
“The thing that got me was not just hearing the stories but realising how varied the stories were. Laws are black and white yet women are a thousand shades of grey, so when you talk about legislating reproductive rights you’re always going to come up short.”
Of the 151 women Jodi talked to, only 25 wanted to be acknowledged in the book, which she says is because the majority had not told anyone about their abortions.
“They were still living under this umbrella of shame, believing there was something wrong with what they did. That, to me, was heartbreaking.”
Jodi counts herself as being prochoice in the reproductive rights debate but through her research for her book she has come to a new understanding of those who are pro-life.
“I had a grave misconception that these people were religious zealots, they’re evangelical, they’re insane, but the ones I spoke with were lovely people. People I would have enjoyed going out to dinner with,” she says.
“What they believe comes from a place of deep conviction and deep compassion and they truly believe that at conception a person is created – not just life, but a person.”
Jodi says pro-choice advocates believe a foetus or person has the right to live. “Yet my question is, at what point during the process does a woman stop being a person and you take that right away from her?”
In the United States Jodi says seven out of 10 women who have an abortion make less than US$22,000 a year, which is in the poverty range, and 75 per cent of women who have abortions say it’s because they can’t afford a child. Jodi believes there is so much more that can be done to help women, such as free contraception, encouraging adoption, funding daycare, raising the minimum wage and providing universal healthcare for women and their children.
Does Jodi believe that pro-choice and pro-life will ever agree?
“I don’t believe that we will, because if you’re pro-life and I’m pro-choice we are never going to agree, but we can still manage to decrease the number of abortions because, let’s face it, no woman wakes up on a Thursday saying, ‘I have nothing to do today; I think I’ll have an abortion.’”
As part of her research Jodi watched abortions take place so that she could describe them in detail in her book.
She witnessed three; the last was a 15-week-old foetus.
“When you look at the products of conception from a 15-week abortion there are very, very, very tiny pieces that look human and it’ll give you pause. I talked to the woman who had that 15-week abortion and she had three children at home under the age of four she could not afford to feed, and she knew that if she had a fourth child they would really be in serious dire straits. Does that make her a terrible mother or a really, really good one?”
Jodi is about to tour her new book, which means being away from her
New Hampshire home for six weeks, leaving behind her husband Tim van Leer and four dogs, as well as donkeys, chickens and ducks.
“When I am at home and recharging with my husband or with my kids if they come back home, it is definitely healing and I don’t spend nearly enough time there. But I love meeting my fans and knowing that I have changed the way they think about something. To encourage them to dive deeper on a topic and, in some cases, even change their lives or help them through a really tough time.”
Given that A Spark of Light takes on such a hugely divisive topic as abortion rights, is Jodi concerned that on her book tour she may divide her fans?
“No, I’m not,” she says. “Anyone who has read the book knows it is an extremely balanced look at the issue, because it’s not all black or white and that’s the reason the book was written. I don’t think it’s my job as an author to tell you what to think, and when you read the book I’m not going to preach to you in any way. I am, however, going to make you uncomfortable, no matter which side you are on, and that is my job. To make you question why you believe the things you believe. I don’t think of that as alienating my readers, I think of it as empowering them.”
“I love meeting my fans and knowing that I have changed the way they think about something.”