The problem is that I doubt it would be done well. While Maili‘s earlier example sounds amazing – I want to read that! the heroine sounds cool! (apart from falling for her rapist, that is) – I rarely feel that the serious issues which sporadically appear in romance are dealt with properly. Rape, for example: as krysilove mentioned, I’ve seen it pop up and be dealt with horribly. Even worse are the oldies where she has “healing sex” with the hero right after someone else rapes her and suddenly everything’s all better! Yippee! *snorts* Yeah, right. Then there are stories where the heroine’s miscarried but it doesn’t change her at all, except that every now and then she feels a bit sad but it’s okay because she’ll have another baby one day! Yes, these do exist; I’ve seen several.

Basically, I’d love to see it done well, but that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon. So it’s both a yes and a no from me – yes, it should be written about, yet no, it shouldn’t, all at once.

Women have abortions and they have any number of reactions to them based on their upbringing. Certainly a past abortion could be an acceptable part of a heroine’s backstory. I wouldn’t place any sort of restrictions on how it should be treated either. I am certain that it may certainly have been a total non-issue for some women, while being a source of devastating guilt for others. The heroine’s reaction or non-reaction to it would say a lot about her, as would the hero’s reactions to the act, and her reaction, say much about him.

I would only object to its use if it was used to shout the author’s opinion of abortion. Pro-life or pro-choice, I don’t want to be hit over the head a la Aslan in Narnia. (ZOMG THE LION REPRESENTS CHRIST, TELL A FRIEND)

I would write an abortion into a book if it served the book and the character. Like everything else, I don’t want to force my opinions and views on the characters. I have a book planned out which features an abortion doctor being threatened by extremists, but I haven’t had time to write it yet, and it would be a little different to my usual fare.

Historically, abortions were extremely dangerous, but then, so was childbirth. I think most women who found themselves pregnant tended to go away to have the baby and then return to their usual haunts, having dumped the baby on the way. The poor would have the baby, because after the infant turned five, it was a potential earner and could be put to work.

I’m going with the theory that women who go through abortions have justified in their mind the ‘clump of cells’ theory to deal with it in the least emotional way. To get rid of any guilt or bad personal feelings about themselves. The ‘my body, my choice’ argument is a good way to cover up what is really happening: the ending of life.

Just to give MY personal experience with this issue. A good friend from many years ago made some bad choices, ended up pregnant, was afraid what her parents might think of her, never told them and had an abortion. She was 21. She confessed this to me one evening 3 or 4 years later and was clearly emotionally distraught, asked what I thought of her, and seemed to be looking for some kind of absolution. It was terrible and sad. And something I will never forget. Those types of personal experiences speak louder than any statistics someone throws at me.

But I do have to agree that I don’t have problems with heroines who have had abortions (although I also dislike it being a DEEP DARK SECRET!). And I don’t have a problem with it being a viable option. If having a baby will ruin your life, why shouldn’t you consider all your possible options? But I don’t really want to read about it. It’s such a serious issue to me that I don’t think it would fit well in my happy romances.

But as always, there might be times when I’m proven wrong. I won’t say it’s impossible, but I’ll probably never pick it up if I think there is an abortion in the story.

As other people have mentioned, there's the old adage that “personal is political”. Woman being able to sleep with, marry and have non-dependent relationships with whoever they want, AND end happily is in fact intensely political. There are many countries in the world where the idea at the heart of all romance novels is an “alien world system”.

I get what you’re saying, but I don’t want to read about that. I want it to be invisible background. I’ve never really cared for the star-crossed lovers plot. And if Lady Y has to marry Lord X because they were caught in a compromising situation, I don’t want a story about how unjust and unenlightened this is; I want a story about how they deal with the situation and fall in love. [I can actually think of a star-crossed lovers plot that worked well because the "personal politics" were contextual - Devilish.]

Issue/message plots just remind me of all the depressing, preachy YA novels that were around when I was growing up.

if it makes sense in the context of the characters and plot, then hell yeah, go for it

I agree with that. Maybe what we’re talking about is how difficult this is to get right. A controversial issue in a book runs the risk of becoming the book’s focus and dominating the relationship development. MJP’s The Burning Point relied heavily on an issue and there was much disagreement over how she dealt with it.

The reason random politics (with no purpose but to swat at an opposing belief) can derail a story is because they break the suspension of disbelief. That’s what happened to me in the story I initially commented about. My disbelief came back on and never went off again so I was very skeptical through the rest of the story.

Thanks- I’m glad you liked my comment! In regards to early modern sexual practices, the seminal (no pun intended) work is Thomas Laqueur’s Making Sex; Laqueur turns up fascinating evidence of early modern biological beliefs (including the belief that the female reproductive system was merely an inverted version of the male, and therefore if a woman exercised too hard, her penis could fall out). I also highly recommend James G. Turner’s Libertines and Radicals in Early Modern England; he does an amazing job of culling together all kinds of strange sexual beliefs and practices. Elizabeth Foyster, Tim Hitchcock, and Thomas King are also excellent scholars.

If you’re interested in the history of homosexuality, take a look at Randolph Trumbach’s amazing body of work. Bruce Smith, Alan Bray, and Jonathan Goldberg are also quite good.

Really though, I'm not interested in any world system – past, present or future. I'm interested in interpersonal relationships, particularly ones that resolve happily; and if an author's world system starts eclipsing the relationship, it's no longer a romance to me. It's some other genre.

As other people have mentioned, there’s the old adage that “personal is political”. Woman being able to sleep with, marry and have non-dependent relationships with whoever they want, AND end happily is in fact intensely political. There are many countries in the world where the idea at the heart of all romance novels is an “alien world system”.

I don’t mean to say that controversial political issues should be brought up just for the hell of it – I can’t think of anything more tedious than having an author use her novel as a sounding board. But if there’s a good reason for it and if it makes sense in the context of the characters and plot, then hell yeah, go for it.

And I’ve read plenty of romances where the author clearly has a different political slant than I do, and still enjoyed them. I love Linda Howard for one but would definitely have loads “to discuss” were we to meet in a political forum. I even enjoyed “24″ before it went off the rails and that definitely has somewhat questionable politics in my mind.

Sometimes the emotional repercussions don't hit you until years later…or after you have decided that you are ready to be a parent. I have to say your statement just makes me sad….

Dear reader, I know this is a touchy subject, but please try not to judge other people here.

@Jen, your comment rocked. Do you have any specific books you’d recommend about sexual practices in the 17th-18th centuries? I’m not interested in the 19th century, but I’ve been studying the early modern period a lot, and I could always do with a few more recommendations.

I;d be lieign if I said I was basing anything off accounts based on sexuality, a topic I’ll definatly deffer to you on, as you are well researched, my understanding comes from the letters and older writings of the periods I’ve have been able to read. So clearly you are the more knowledgeable on the topic.

After all there are plenty of “you’ll just have to have an abortion” comments by hero’s who want no strings attached affairs, and I don’t see people saying anyhting about that.