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xiii Acknowledgments We begin by acknowledging the unexpected and profound influence of our joint residency at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Study and Conference Center, where we arrived with only an agreed-upon book outline and a very rough draft of some sections. The atmosphere at the center and the people we met there helped us in a number of ways. First, although we had been friends for decades, the environment permitted us to get to know each other even better. This proved to be essential, both during and after our stay at Bellagio, because it allowed us to maintain a respectful and constructive dialogue during the many instances in which we found we had minor but significant differences in perspective. Second , the people we met at Bellagio, many of whom were very interested in the subject matter of this text and were willing to discuss their personal views, influenced the way we structured the book. In particular, we thank Lou Stein, who took the time to read some of the early drafts and made valuable editorial suggestions, and Ruth Macklin, whose profound knowledge of bioethics provided many important insights. We also thank the friends and colleagues who read initial drafts for their invaluable support and suggestions, which reflected not only their vast experience but also their great wisdom: Frank Alvarez, Vivian Brache, Horacio Croxatto, Elizabeth Dawson, Raul Faúndes, Christine Gudorf, Ellen Hardy, and Stephen Isaacs. In addition, we are grateful to Susan Godstone and Lesley Hanson de Moura for their editorial assistance. Susan began by correcting our grammatical errors and improving our English usage. Then Lesley greatly enhanced the style and offered excellent suggestions with respect to the content. We also acknowledge the dedicated and competent technical support of Cecilia Barros, who coordinated the many versions of both xiv The Human Drama of Abortion text and references that traveled back and forth through cyberspace for more than two years. Finally, we express our appreciation for the contribution of the many women who, over the past fifty years of our professional lives, have shared their experiences with us, confided their stories to us, and conveyed to us in their own words what abortion really means to them. We dedicate this book to all of these women, without whom it could not have been written. ...

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