Lovejoy: A Year in the Life of an Abortion Clinic

Perhaps a disinterested book on abortion isn't possible, but Korn's desensitized account doesn't serve either. Focusing on Lovejoy Surgicenter in Portland, Ore., he takes us through 1995 in a for-profit abortion clinic founded in 1974 by Allene Klass, who remains its administrator. There is much absorbing information here about daily routines; the procedures available (unlike many clinics, Lovejoy will perform abortions after 21 weeks); patients, staff and their joint anguish and fears in coping with right-to-life protesters. Lovejoy's unrelenting foe is infamous Andrew Burnett and his Advocates for Life, against whom, individually and collectively, the clinic won an uncollectible judgment of $8.2 million for punitive damages. (Lovejoy hopes to sell the judgment to a third party for collection). His depiction of the clinic is enormously informative, but Korn, a columnist for Biz magazine, undermines his book with intemperate snideness. He notes on many occasions, for example, that the 56-year-old Klass wears miniskirts, and he mentions that her heir apparent, Carye, who weighs 200 pounds, ""does not possess the personality of an obese person."" He doesn't verify gossip, such as that Lovejoy's chief surgeon, who earns $300,000 annually working a 20-hour week, moonlights at other abortion clinics. The author also betrays a confidence, telling us that a Lovejoy doctor secretly performed a free abortion for a staff member and naming them both. Tighter editing would have made this a worthier book. (Oct.)