HEADLINE:   Abortion

PUBLICATION: Cape Argus

PAGE NUMBER: 12

AUTHOR:     Zubeida Jaffer

DATE:       2001-03-19 14:02:38

Abortion debate explodes in intrigue

Protect and Defend

Richard North Patterson

Hutchinson (Random House) 

Review: Zubeida Jaffer

When a young girl goes against her parents' wishes and tries to procure a late-term abortion, all hell breaks loose. 

Never would Mary Ann Tierney have imagined that her personal dilemma would become enmeshed with the efforts of a newly-elected US president to appoint the first woman to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Five months pregnant, she believes she has no choice but to go to court to ask that the parental consent requirement stipulated in the law be set aside.

For those who enjoy courtroom dramas, this is a must. On the one side is Mary Ann and her defence counsel and on the other is her own father acting in defence of his still-to-be-born grandson, whom doctors say may possibly have no brain.

As the story unfolds, it provides graphic insights into the rationale of both the pro- and anti-abortion lobbyists. The decision to allow television cameras into the courtroom strips the 15-year-old of all privacy, tears her family apart and polarises the United States into opposing camps. 

Most readers know in broad outline what the issues are for and against abortion. In this 546-page novel, Patterson introduces the reader to the finer detail, the intricacies of the debate on all sides - a hugely educative effort.

Behind the scenes an even bigger drama unfolds as judges and politicians, vying for advantage, use this divide to fight for and against the appointment of Caroline Masters, the president's candidate for Chief Justice.

For anyone wanting to understand how key high office appointments are made in most democracies, this book provides a glimpse into the minutiae - how family dramas of politicians impact on the decisions they make, how money buys votes and how presidents and influential leaders barter for votes in favour of their candidate.

The key political figures all have secrets from the past that come back to haunt them.

Patterson also captures the subtleties of ongoing prejudice against women, especially women in powerful positions. He tells particularly of the chauvinism of the judiciary.

It is a probing, revealing look at those in high office and is bound to rank highly among political novels this year.

In his review of the novel, author Stephen King said: "It's a brilliant political novel and a terrific tale of suspense. Rarely do the novel of thought and the novel of emotion mesh so beautifully. In Protect and Defend, Richard North Patterson has caught lightning in a bottle."