This novel makes its stance known as pro-choice while still sticking to the facts (with citations!!). On top of that, there’s a solid history lesson included, again with citations which honestly made this enjoyable for me. If I’m going to read non-fiction like this, I do enjoy the ease that citations add when fact checking - and as a fact checker I’m here for it!

I received the audiobook from NetGalley and I can say I have complaints. It’s short and sticks to the point.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book gives a well-researched timeline of many of the various attacks on women's reproductive rights. It goes far beyond abortion and includes information about eugenics and population control. I think this book is a must read for anyone who is researching these topics and it is quite timely at the moment. I listened to the audio version of the book, which is well done.

I really enjoyed listening to this non-fiction audiobook narrated by the author. In just 6 relatively short chapters, Kirby shares a wealth of information about the barriers to reproductive rights for women and trans men around the world. Kirby is clearly extremely knowledgeable about this topic, and her text is supported with extensive research, yet she is able to explain things in a very succinct and easy to understand way. The information she shares is both statistical and qualitative, describing experiences using background information and supporting details. For example, Kirby gives statistics about the lack of abortion clinics on Prince Edward Island, Canada, but also gives information about the political context of the province, the geography of the location of abortion clinics and the legal and financial barriers as well as the inconvenience of both time and travel imposed on Islanders looking to receive an abortion in a neighbouring province.

As a Canadian, Kirby's novel was a pretty humbling reminder that just because abortions are legal in Canada, doesn't mean we don't have our problems too. I naively assumed that since Canadians have health care coverage and abortions are legal that it was easier here than most other places, but Kirby reminded me that like all other barriers many disadvantaged populations face, accessing an abortion is not necessarily easy.

Going beyond just abortions, Kirby also discussed topics such as forced sterilization, eugenics and LGBTQ+ rights when it comes to reproductive and medical supports. She gave historical contexts, broke down common biases and provided extensive and detailed information in a way that was passionate and persuasive but also succinct and non-confrontational. I would definitely recommend this book, both in print and as an audiobook. Kirby does speak fairly quickly at times, but she is easy to understand and her articulation was really clear. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, ECW Press (audio) for giving me the opportunity to listen to and review this fantastic audiobook!

3.5 stars!!

Thanks to Jane Kirby & NetGalley for this pre-release audiobook edition! I've had this on my TBR forever and always love books read by the author.

Fired Up about Reproductive Rights is quick but thorough. With these kinds of books, I am hesitant to give anything above 2 stars without proper references. That was not a problem with this book! The book is obviously about firey passion for reproductive rights, which we love, but it is also a historical account of the role religion, eugenics, and fear-mongering have played in the threat to abortion.

For those who are interested in being educated on this subject, or are already passionate about reproductive rights and looking to feel outraged, this book is for you.

I wish this book was available 12 years ago, when my daughter was in High Schoo! This book is filled with wonderful history and back story to our current events. It's really helped me see how we got to today. Things that were so "normal" and how they shaped today's Anti-Reproductive Rights movement.

I have the audio version. The Narrator does a great job, the only part I don't care for is the audio book goes directly to the End Notes at the end of each section, but I can manually skip those. Also, the audio book notes "boxes" in the book. I personally find it a bit distracting.

I thought this book was alright and had some good information. It would be good for younger folks learning about reproductive rights.

Super important read! It was short but really impactful . I feel like. this would be a good read for anyone who wants to further their knowledge on reproductive rights especially with everything going on today. I am glad I was able to receive this audiobook through NetGalley.

Fired Up About Reproductive Rights is a refreshingly straightforward and staunchly pro-choice primer for young people on the history and present of reproductive rights from a Canadian perspective and should certainly be a must-read for teens of any gender as part of the school curriculum!

While Kirby includes discussion on the intersectionality between racism and reproductive freedoms (with extra focus on the forced sterilization of indigenous children in residential schools), as well as brief mentions of how the state of our reproductive rights legislation impacts nonbinary, trans, and gender non conforming people, I would have loved a bit more depth to the conversation. As a beginner's guide or introduction to the subject, it excels. Still, there is much more diversity of experience to be explored that would certainly benefit teenagers' understanding and empathy in this area.

I think this book would be better consumed in physical form rather than audio, as the narration was, at times, confusing. Still, even as a 28-year-old woman who is not the target demographic, I managed to walk away with some new information that surprised and saddened me.

I would definitely recommend this book to parents of tweens and teens who are beginning to become aware of the politicization of the bodies of those with uteruses as a way to open the door for conversation!

I found this to be a great intro text into reproductive rights. It covers a nice range from early history of the movement to the modern approach.

I was glad to see the critical lens it took while looking at the movement because it's important to acknowledge the flaws along with the progress.

It's astonishing to be reading it in 2021 and see what has developed since its publication in 2017. There have been many steps taken here in the USA to restrict reproductive rights EVEN more than had already occurred at the time this was released.

My biggest complaint with the AUDIOBOOK version is that the footnotes are read aloud at the end of each chapter. I would have much preferred they were left until the end of the book.

Overall, this is a quick read and I would highly recommend it to anyone who interested in learning more about the topic. Especially teens and young adults. I think it's a great way to get them interested as well as provide ideas on how they can become involved in the fight to protect and advocate for reproductive rights.

I'm glad that pro-choice audiobook listeners in the teen (or above) age range now have this listening option. I thought Kirby covered many good points about reproductive rights and justice and that she did a good job of recognizing her own bias and privilege.

However, I feel like this would have been better to read as a book. All of the footnotes and boxes made the text feel a bit disjointed and even repetitive. Also, in terms of the "flow" of the audiobook the fact that each chapter's citations were read at the end of the chapter seemed disruptive. After the first set of citations I realized that could fairly easily be skipped but it still didn't lend itself to easy listening.

I thought there were a few issues with content as well. The biggest being that every date from every study or report or whatever was at least five years old. This makes since considering that the book was originally published in 2017, but with the audiobook releasing in 2021 I think it ight have been nice if somethings were updated. My other content criticism is the way that Kirby disregarded the pro-life movement. I don't agree with them, but Kirby mentioned that some people are pro-life, quickly insinuated that they were wrong, and then moved on. She also only had bad things to say about crisis pregnancy centers which, Along With Doing Bad Things, also work to support pregnant people who want to have a baby but can't easily for financial, social, or whatever reasons.

Overall I thought it was a good introduction to reproductive rights and a fine audiobook. If I knew a teen interested in the subject I would recommend it with only a few caveats.

This is an excellent primer to reproductive justice. It would be ideal for mature middle schoolers, and high school students. It would also be a perfect book for anyone who is unfamiliar with reproductive rights and wants to learn. It does a fantastic job discussing the intersections of gender, race, class, and sexuality with reproductive justice.

Jane Kirby mainly focuses on abortion access and forced sterilization. The information in this book is both entry level and nuanced. I am honestly impressed, very glad to have found it. I will be recommending it to everyone.

FIRED UP ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS was written by Jane Kirby, a writer and performing artist with a history of working with feminist and social justice organizations.

The FIRED UP series is aptly named. While the book is well-written and well-researched, the topic is infuriating. Most of us don't know the extent that our reproductive lives remain under heteropatriarchal control.
The fight for reproductive rights does not exist in a vacuum. This book makes an argument for how racism, poverty, transphobia, and ableism are all components of reproductive issues. If you care about reproductive rights, you also need to care about social justice issues. If you care about social justice issues, you need to care about reproductive rights.

This book is by no means a complete list of reproductive injustices, but it's an eye-opening introduction for the target demographic (ages 16–25). The plethora of citations alone is a roadmap for further study. Kirby also offers an overview of the concepts of heteropatriarchy, choice, consent, and accessibility. It shatters the misunderstanding that reproductive rights are just about abortion, when in fact it's only a small portion of the bigger picture. As much as people fight for the right to not have children, there are groups of people fighting for the right to have them. Trans and differently-abled folks face discrimination from healthcare providers and lack access to resources. There's also the shameful history of forced and coerced sterilization of marginalized communities as a form of population control all around the world. 

FIRED UP ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS is an easy read with hard-to-swallow truths. It's perfect for young adults or anyone looking for an introduction to the topic.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. It is very informative and provides very relevant details about the need to advocate for reproductive rights. I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone who wants to learn more about reproductive rights and reproductive justice. However, this audiobook was set up very strangely, I have listened to a lot of nonfiction audiobooks but none have ever been set up like this. In this audiobook, footnotes are read throughout the audiobook and this disrupts the flow of the text. The information in those footnotes was obviously very important but I do wonder if there would have been a better way to rework the text to allow for a better audiobook experience. Similarly, at the end of each chapter, there was another chapter that read off every reference/citation that was in that chapter. I am very glad that this was sectioned off into its own chapter so it could easily be skipped over but listening to someone read citations was very strange. I also understand that with a topic like this it is important to back up facts with references/give people the opportunity to look up references but I don't know that reading them off in an audiobook was really the way to go.

The content of this book was fantastic and highly recommended but the formating left much to be desired.